In the Bone
by Ghostwriter789
Summary: What happens if Izuku was given a Quirk from All-For-One at age eight in exchange for the boy's first notebook.? It doesn't do much for him... Izuku has Hero work written on his heart and etched into his bones, but is that really enough when you are just a small teenager with what feels like the entire world against you? Quirk!Izuku. Slight AU and crossover with other Hero anime.
1. Chapter 1

**In the bone**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Stranger Danger**

* * *

Izuku Midoriya, age eight, wandered through the park holding his notebook. Kacchan, his friend turned bully, had blown it up again.

_'You're dream is so stupid! You don't have a quirk moron!' Kacchan said. 'You'll just get yourself killed!'_

Izuku sniffed. "My dream isn't stupid… I-I can be a h-hero too right?"

"Why of course you can." A voice said. Izuku looked up.

The one who had spoken was a tall man with dark hair and darker eyes. Izuku didn't know why, but he felt afraid…

"Um…" Izuku said shrinking in on himself. His ears finally comprehended the words the man said. "You think I could?"

"You can do anything in this world, as long as you are powerful enough…" The man said almost… wistfully?

"But…" Izuku said looking down. "I don't have a Quirk…"

"Oh?" the man said. "Tell you what… If you give me that notebook I'll happily give you one."

"My notebook?" Izuku asked brow furrowing.

"I noticed you had some pictures of All-Might in there." The man said easily. "I happen to be a bit of a fan myself. What do you say, trade?"

Izuku frowned. "But how?"

"I have a special Quirk." The man said. "Tell you what, I'll even give you a strong one… What kind do you want?"

Izuku fidgeted. Was this real? He could have a Quirk? Something he wanted?

"C-could I have one that will make me strong? Like All-Might?" Izuku whispered. The man smiled and Izuku felt a chill run down his spine.

"Oh, that's easy…" The man said. "Let's see… something strong… something that can make you like All-Might… Hmmm… Ah! I know just the one. It's one of my favorites but I don't really use it too often."

"Wow…" Izuku's eyes shown. He was so strong! All-Might was stronger of course, but to be able to just give away Quirks… That was really cool!

"Now! Tell me something I don't know about All-Might!" The man said. Izuku hesitated. He wanted to impress the man with his knowledge.

"All-Might is seven foot two and weighs five-hundred and sixty two pounds! Um…" Izuku faltered, but then remembered Kacchan practicing his punches to be just like All-Might's. "He also always starts a fight with a left hook…"

"Really?" The man said taking a considering look at the boy. "What else?"

"Um… He doesn't have any… you know piercing moves…" Izuku said feeling bad about criticizing his Hero. "He doesn't want to hurt anyone so… moves that kinda go 'through' stuff… His Carolina Smash is the only one, but he usually uses that against robots and stuff…"

"Really…" The man said looking up. "I didn't realize… Huh… From the mouth of babes… Very well, that info has definitely earned you a Quirk!"

"Really!?" Izuku said eyes sparkling. The man's smile sent a chill down the boys spine.

"Really… Now, hold still…" The man said placing a hand on his head. "It might pinch a little…"

The man's fingers extended, and black and red tendrils sunk into Izuku's face while the eight year old's panicked screams filled the air.

* * *

_Later…_

"Huh… Kid was right! You do always lead with a left hook!" All-For-One said smiling as the Symbol of Peace, All-Might struggled to fight against his awesome power.

* * *

Little Izuku Midoriya woke up in the park later. It was after dark. His mom must be worried out of her mind! He looked around for the 'Quirk Man' but he was gone… along with his notebook…

The eight year old sighed. This was the worst… Then the boy remembered what the Quirk Man talked about.

Trembling the boy tried to feel anything out of the ordinary. There was a warmth to his bones but that was about it… Wait…

Warmth?

The boy focused the warmth crawling up his arm and felt it turn uncomfortable and sharp and painful and- OW! It hurt! It really hurt! WHY DID HIS ARM HURT?!

Izuku began to scream for his mommy again clutching his arm. The warmth was gone but the pain remained… He just wanted to stop! It felt like someone stabbed him in the arm with a really big splinter!

He hadn't been stabbed with a knife before because he was only eight, but he imagined that this was what it felt like!

Crying he reached inside again, feeling the warmth in his bones. If it caused the pain, maybe it could fix it!

OW!

The pain increased! Just OW!

Izuku then noticed the thing sticking out of his arm.

It was a bone… Izuku stared at it for a good moment and then… just stared at it a little more…

There was a bone sticking out of his arm… The flesh was parted, and the skin was just kinda… hanging there… but hey! At least the pain was mostly gone… Somewhat…

Nope… Ow… Pain was still there… Kinda… It just felt really weird and… ugh…

The bone was kinda spiral shape and- huh… that was weird… Wait- why was it spiral shape?

Part of Izuku was totally grossed out and freaked out, but the fanboy part of his brain was trying to understand the new Quirk before him.

Some kind of… bone growth? Izuku's mouth trembled upward into a smile.

The eight year old boy felt an elation that he had never felt before.

He had a Quirk…

"IZUKU HONEY! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Izuku frowned staring at his arm.

How the heck was he supposed to explain this to his mom? He needed to hide it.

Maybe he could make it go back? He felt the warmth in his bones once again and then up the spike jutting out of his arm and- It grew a branch? No, no, no… Um… He needed to... um…

The boy concentrated that warmth in his bones once more and then- Izuku focused the warmth back into his body and-

Slowly the bones shrank back into his body and the wounds sealed up… painfully… Izuku whimpered. The Quirk was cool, but the pain wasn't…

Izuku watched as his body re-absorbed the bones and just in time too…

"IZUKU!" His mother cried finally finding him. She hugged him close. "Where have you been!? I've been worried sick!"

Izuku hugged his mom. "Mom! I got a Quirk!"

"Wha-?"

* * *

"Indeed. He has a Quirk…" The doctor said with a deep frown. "This is unexpected…"

Izuku and his mother sat together in the doctor's office more than a little dumbfounded.

"It appears you have gained a Quirk after the age of four." The doctor said. "It happens to less than one percent of the population. Basically…"

"But what about the Quirk Man?" Izuku asked. The doctor's frown deepened if possible.

"Look kid, you probably had a nightmare or something…" The doctor said. "Anyways ma'am, this is extremely rare and-"

"But the Quirk Man took my notebook!" Izuku said. The doctor sighed.

"Irrelevant…" The doctor said dismissively. "His Quirk is called 'Spear-like Bones'-"

"Marrow." The child corrected. The doctor looked up from his clipboard. His mother looked mortified.

The child looked determined. The doctor didn't look amused. Another kid getting snotty as soon as he got a semi-decent Quirk…

"I just thought Marrow sounded cool…" Izuku said. "If the Quirk Man wasn't real and it's really an anemone-"

"Anomaly…" The doctor corrected.

"-then doesn't that mean I get to name it?" Izuku asked with wide green eyes. The doctor's mustache twitched.

"Look, 'Spear-Like Bones' is just like your mom's 'Attraction of Small Objects'." The doctor explained. "It's name is simple and to the point."

"Then shouldn't it be 'Tree-Like Bones?" The boy asked.

"Eh?" The doctor asked eloquently. Izuku focused the warmth in his bones down his arm and then-

Izuku grit his teeth and only cried a little bit… okay, a lot… but he made a bone come out again and then… Focusing the warm feeling up the bone and out…

The bone grew a branch. The doctor stared at the bone jutting out of the kid's arm, noting how the boy's body was not used to the Quirk yet. Apparently it was quite painful…

'_The Quirk developed a mutation…_' The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. _'Of course it has…'_

The man let out a defeated sigh. "Apparently your son has the Transformation Quirk: 'Marrow'. You'll need to update your registry and make sure everything kosher with the Hero Association. If there are any problems or developments-"

"Why does his Quirk hurt him?" The boy's mother asked worriedly staring at the bleeding bone growth coming out of her son's arm. The doctor shrugged.

"Honestly? I have no f- er… freaking idea…" The doctor said. "Your son isn't fitting in any of my boxes. He is…" There was some vague hand waving in Izuku's direction as the doctor failed to put to words the exact phrasing. "…Unique."

That put a smile on the boy's face and an even more worried look on the mother's. Great… Just… great…

The doctor really wished All-For-One wouldn't put shit like this in his lap…

* * *

"Hey Deku!" Bakugo said gruffly slamming Izuku against the wall. "What's this shit I hear about you having a Quirk!?"

"Kacchan!" Izuku said looking worried. "You said a bad word!"

"Yeah? So?" Bakugo asked. "Mom says it all the time!"

"My mom said it was a bad word meaning 'poop'." Izuku said with half an attempt at a shrug. He was still pinned to a wall…

"Stupid Deku…" Bakugo said growling and shoved him into the wall again. "You lied to me! You said you were Quirkless!"

Izuku didn't know what to say. The doctor said the Quirk Man wasn't real and his Mom said that it was probably a dream too… Hmm… Then how was he going to explain this to Kacchan? Oh, dear…

An idea formed in Izuku's head, but it was a very rough one, and not all that well thought out all things considering. In the eight year old's mind however, it was worth a try.

"My Quirk is different than my mom and dad's and it hurts a lot." Izuku said telling the truth. "I didn't know I could do anything until just recently. You wanna see?"

Bakugo frowned but his interest was piqued. "Whatcha got nerd?"

"It's called 'Marrow'…" Izuku explained letting the warm feeling travel down his arm. He winced and began to tear up as the bone he was creating was trying to come out of his skin.

He clutched his arm and grit his teeth beginning to sweat a little. Finally, the bone popped out. Bakugo's eyes widened at the sight of the bloody bone coming out of the nerd's arm. It was maybe three inches long and just covered in blood…

"I can create bone growths… but…" Izuku sniffled pitifully as he tried and failed not to cry in front of Kacchan. "… It really hurts!"

Bakugo just stared at the bone and then at the crying nerd. Finally, he spoke.

"You…" Bakugo said shaking. "IDIOT! You just-! Argh! If it hurts, don't do it dumbass!"

"Bad word…" Izuku sniffed. Bakugo bopped him on the head.

"Shut it! It's what my mom says whenever I do something stupid!" Bakugo said shoving the boy back up against the wall. "You are a _dumbass_!"

"But I get good grades…" Izuku pouted. "… and since I gotta Quirk I can be a Hero too… Heroes aren't dumb…"

"Fine! A _smart_ass then!" Bakugo said. "Deku! Your Quirk is really dumb. Like, _really_ dumb. If it hurts you so bad you nearly pee your pants and cry for your mom you'll never make it as a Hero!"

"But I gotta Quirk now!" Izuku said. "And it's really cool and-!"

"I just said your Quirk is dumb as shit! A bone isn't going to change anything! Especially if the bone is f-in' creepy and hurts you and shit!" Bakugo said shoving him again. He smirked. "Heh. Even if you get a Quirk, you're still that same useless nobody, Deku."

Izuku's lower lip trembled like Jell-O.

He thought if he had a Quirk maybe Bakugo could be his friend again… He thought maybe he could stop being 'Deku'… A 'can't do anything' person… but apparently the Quirk he was given didn't change anything. Kacchan was still being mean. Just because they both had Quirks now didn't make them equals…

"Then I'll make it work." Izuku said quietly.

Bakugo scowled. Normally the nerd would be crying by now, and to be fair, the nerd _was_ crying. But Deku friggin _glared_ at him.

"I'll make my Quirk powerful! It's not stupid… It's not useless…" Izuku said taking a step forward and making Bakugo subconsciously step back. "I'm going to be a Hero! Like All-Might! And I'll do it with my own power!"

It finally registered in Bakugo's mind that Deku… the damn nerd… had forced him to take a step backward. Bakugo felt his blood boil.

"You think you're hot shit just because you have a Quirk now?! Huh?! You're _nothing_! You're just a bug that I can step on at any time!" Bakugo said grabbing and shaking the nerd.

Now the nerd tried and failed to back away from him. Things were back to the way they should be… He was the strongest. Some loser, even if he just got himself a shitty Quirk, should never have even the chance to challenge him.

Izuku looked down clutching his still bleeding arm. It was starting to swell a bit as his body tried to repair itself around the bone.

"You ever try that shit again I will personally end you." Bakugo said calmly and began to walk away. "See you later… Deku."

The smaller, less powerful boy trembled and fell to his knees.

"Kacchan..." Izuku wept sadly.

* * *

_Six years later…_

The class was kinda rowdy today, but they were already talking about the fight he saw earlier during lunch hour.

"Did you see Kamui! He was so cool!" one said.

"Too bad about Mt. Lady stealing his kill… Hope that it doesn't cause too much issue with his rankings. We need more Mutant types on the top rosters." Another said.

"You guys already got Hawks… Could we get a few more guys that can Transform? All we get is girls…" A transformation type said. He looked up. "Hey Deku!"

"Yeah?!" Izuku said perking up. People were talking to him?! The kid smirked.

"Get us some drinks?" the guy asked. Izuku nodded glumly. He was at the bottom of the social totem pole still…

He wandered the hall to find the vending machines with the 'leche strawberry stuff'. It was a new product and the guys wanted to try it… Izuku was happy to help even if he was paying for it…

_'I forgot my wallet! You don't mind spotting for me don't ya? Come on! Help a guy out!'_

Izuku frowned. He was too nice to say no… At least they were kinda his friends…

The short green haired boy located the drinks and began to hurry back. Lunch would be almost over but at least-!

SLAM!

The drinks went flying and Izuku, in a feat of dexterity, managed to catch all but one as they tumbled out of his arms.

'_The leche strawberry stuff!'_ Izuku panicked. Daisuke, the kid with the transformation Quirk, was going to kill him! The juice can fell on the floor and looked ready to explode. This was bad- but maybe he could- Eep!

The can rolled and stopped at a pair of shoes. Some surprisingly nice shoes considering the person they were attached to.

"Tch. It's Deku…" someone said behind the guy. Izuku froze. That sounded like… Izuku looked up and saw glaring red eyes.

"Kacchan!" Izuku yelped. "I'm so sorry I-!"

Katsuki Bakugo looked at him like a piece of- well something unhygienic- that he had just scrapped off of his shoe. "Don't call me that."

"S-sorry I'll just-" Izuku said trying to escape.

"Whoa! Hey, there buddy!" the kid with stretchy fingers said grabbing the smaller boy by the back of the collar. "You look like your pretty thirsty with all those drinks!"

"Please I-!" Izuku tried but another kid grabbed him by the legs.

"We should help him out! It's only right- you know?" the big chubby one said. He had a face like a gorilla and his Quirk allowed him to stick rocks to his body like a suite of armor.

The kid with the stretchy fingers smirked taking the drinks. "Aw, you shouldn't have pal~! But I know how much you love toilet water shit-head!"

"Nice one!" the chubby one said. Izuku was led down the hallway to the bathroom where he was going to be- Izuku struggled in the bigger boys arms.

"Let me go!" Izuku yelped feeling warmth spread through his bones. He really didn't need a swirly today!

"Hey! What's going on over there!?" The hall monitor barked.

"Shit! It's Mr. Fuji!" the stretchy kid said helping the chubby one man-handle the boy into position.

"Don't worry about it teach!" the chubby one said. "Deku- I mean-!"

"This guy bumped into us and fell down!" The stretchy kid said making up a story on the spot. "We were just helping him up!"

The man glared down at Izuku with a pinning stare. "Is this true?"

'_By technicality it is… If I deny it I'd be in even more trouble…'_ Izuku thought glumly. Izuku nodded. It would be worse for him later if he got Kacchan in trouble… Mr. Fuji sighed.

"Get to class, lunch ends in five minutes!" the man said as Katsuki and his goons scurried off. His- well… the drinks he had bought were still in Katsuki's arms. He was even drinking the 'strawberry leche stuff'… "You as well! Watch where you step next time, ya hear?!"

Izuku bowed and scurried back to class.

* * *

"Where the hell are our drinks?!" the guy who sent him said. Izuku gulped. He felt the whole class looking at them like Izuku was the cause of all their troubles.

"I'm sorry but I fell, and a teacher sent me back to class and-!" Izuku said beginning to apologize. After being shaken down in front of the class Izuku made his way back to his desk. People were staring at him…

"Geez, that kid is so unreliable…" one of the girls said.

"He really deserves his nickname…" another agreed. "Someone as weak as him should just try to live peacefully- you know? But he keeps going on 'bout Heroes and junk."

"No way! Does he think that he even has a shot? He'd be killed!" Another said as he sat down.

"Yeah. He has like, a hundred notebooks about that kind of stuff." The second girl said. "He like, watches people and writes things down about them…"

"Creepy…" the first shivered. "What's his Quirk again? Bones or something? He sounds like he's more on his way to becoming a Villain than being a Hero…"

Izuku frowned. Studying Heroes wasn't that creepy…

He proceeded to ignore the rest of the conversation. Sure his habits, which were totally normal by the way, left a lot to be desired… He wasn't all that bad though... He wanted to be a Hero like All-Might.

At least he wasn't totally Quirkless…

That would have sucked…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Lackluster **

* * *

The teacher stood before the class with a packet of paper in his hands. The class shuffled nervously.

"Today I was supposed to give out these career assessment tests to help you decide what you want to do with your future." said the teacher. Then the teacher just up and tossed the papers up in the air. "But what's the point?! You all wanna be Heroes, don't ya?!"

A cheer erupted throughout the class as everyone began to display their 'Heroic' Quirks. Here's looking at you Takahashi 'Extendo-Eyeballs' Takeda~

"Alright! Alright!" The teacher said. "Settle down! You all have wonderful Quirks!"

"Don't get their hopes up!" Katsuki said, feet kicked up on his desk and a smug look on his face. "These losers would be lucky to be sidekicks to a washed up D-lister!"

Katsuki Bakugo was arguably one of the best contenders for being a Hero. His Quirk 'Explosion' was a powerful, versatile, and flashy enough to be worthy of a Hero. But… he was brash, arrogant, and had a short fuse… literally. Still… he was probably the best in class when it came to chances of being a Hero.

"Ah, Young Bakugo. You were going to try applying to UA this year." The teacher said, reorganizing his papers.

A hush fell over the class at this casual mention of the near legendary school.

_"No way… UA?"_

_"They have like, less than a ten percent acceptance rate!"_

_"And they have an insane entrance exam! You'd have to be crazy to even try!"_

This only seemed to inflate Katsuki's ego even more. Izuku shrunk in his seat as he saw the teacher's eyes fall on him next.

"That's right! I'm the only one that's good enough in this shitty school to even try! I'm-!"

"Oh, that's right…" said the teacher with a grin. "Young Midoriya was also gonna apply, right?"

Izuku shrank more into his seat as the class bust out laughing while Bakugo stood frozen at the very thought of Izuku Midoriya, 'Basically- Quirkless' extraordinaire, even attempting to get into UA. The sheer audacity was astronomical.

A familiar feeling of hopelessness filled Izuku's chest. Was it really that hard to imagine?

"I-I-I think I c-c-could do it! Really!" said Izuku, trying to defend himself. "They recently got rid of the rule about Quirks-!"

Izuku yelped as Katsuki let off an explosion right in front of him on his desk, knocking him back into the opposite wall behind him.

"YOU?!" said Katsuki. "You honestly think someone like _you_ could ever be a Hero, let alone get into UA?!"

"I-I mean- technically there's a chance I-!"

"Don't make me puke! You Quirk is totally useless! Who wants to be saved by some guy covered in bloody bones?!" said Katsuki, hands beginning to smoke. Izuku felt like the whole class was looking at him like he was garbage. Or perhaps just some kind of loser… "Just give up! It's pathetic watching you struggle like a worm!"

Izuku felt the words jab into him like a knife. The whole class seemed to agree, even the teacher…

"Young Bakugo, Midoriya! Get seated please." said the teacher trying to regain control of his class. "We still have a test to do."

"Tch…" said Katsuki as he walked back. "… not worth my time…"

Slowly, Izuku got back up and sat down.

Was it really that hard to imagine?

* * *

It was later, after school, when Izuku was going over his notes for the day that he realized that people were hurrying out of the room. It was only when his notebook was suddenly snatched from his hands. Before him was Katsuki holding his Hero notebook and looking at him like a piece of shit he scraped off his shoe.

"You are still dreaming of this shit…" said Katsuki. Then in one fell swoop he set his notebook on fire and tossed Izuku's notebook out the window. Like clockwork, Katsuki's cronies moved in. "Honestly? You? A Hero? That's just all kinds of messed up. You're more cut out to be some second rate villain. You'd probably defeat yourself half the time."

Izuku looked down a familiar anger filling his chest..

Izuku just stared at Katsuki as his placed a smoking hand on Izuku's shoulder, threatening him with bodily harm. Honestly, Izuku was more worried about his school uniform. Flesh would heal, but his uniform was worth a good bit of money… And given his Quirk, clothing without rips or holes in them was kind of a limited commodity…

"I'm only going to say this once." Katsuki said with a mocking smile. "Drop out of UA or else."

Izuku felt a tremor of terror run through his chest. This was nothing new, but Katsuki seemed like he was serious this time… Katsuki walked to the door while his goons jeered him with words like 'loser' and 'idiot'.

"Oh yeah!" said Katsuki turning around smiling. "I thought of a way that you can get a better Quirk!"

Izuku looked up glumly and caught Katsuki's smirk.

"Pray really, really hard and then take a swan dive off of the roof!" said Katsuki. "If you're lucky, you'll be born with a better Quirk in your next life!"

Izuku stood up, his anger turning to rage.

If… If Katsuki had said that to someone else… Someone more depressed…

Izuku shot Katsuki a glare. Katsuki merely responded with making some small explosions in his hands.

The message was clear. 'Don't like what I'm saying? Fight me then!'

For a split second Izuku considered it. He knew Katsuki's fighting style inside and out he could probably take him or at least catch him off guard once or twice if it was one on one. A quick glance at Katsuki's cronies however told him that if he tried to stand up to Katsuki right here and right now, it would go down just like that time nearly ten years ago…

Especially if Katsuki used his Quirk the best evidence he could provide was a bit of soot which could have come from one out five fire Quirked people who used this class room. If Izuku used his Quirk, there'd be some blood, a bone jutting out of his arm and a slightly crying boy clutching his arm. That would _great_ for the teachers...

Izuku looked down with clenched fists while Katsuki snorted.

"At least you got smarter." Katsuki said as he and his goons left Izuku alone with his anger. "See you later… Deku."

* * *

Izuku stared at his notebook floating in the school koi pond. They were nibbling on it…

Izuku shooed away the fish and picked up his charred, soaked, and mostly destroyed notebook. "That's not fish food…"

'_For My Future Number 13_' the title said.

What a joke…

He couldn't even stand up to a middle school bully let alone fight crime… Was his research truly worthless? What was the point of knowing all this stuff if he couldn't walk the walk? He kept thinking that perhaps, just maybe, he could have fought back.

But all the scenarios he ran in his head told him that the moment that he would have tried something Katsuki would have ended the fight rather quickly, and then he would have been beat up and his mom would worry.

Izuku felt a familiar anger at the world bubble up inside of him as he walked back home, but pushed it back down.

There was no point in being angry at things that he couldn't control. There was no point in being angry at things that others did. He couldn't control other people. They had their own free will to be either nice and kind or like Katsuki. He wasn't going to stop them either way.

There was also no point in getting upset that he didn't have a super powerful Quirk. It wasn't like Katsuki had been less of a jerk when he suddenly got one. And it wasn't like All-Might himself was going to show up and offer his Quirk to him, or any other Quirk for that matter… Not like the Quirk-Man…

Izuku grit his teeth.

This was life. This was just how it was. And Izuku was never going to stop fighting. So what if his Quirk hurt him whenever he tried to use it? So what if people like Katsuki existed? There was no point in worrying about it and those things sure as hell wouldn't stop him from trying to achieve his dreams. He didn't have time for that sort of self-pity… He had stuff to do…

Izuku was about to finally get home when he heard the sound of a man-hole suddenly erupting upward and slamming against the ceiling of the tunnel he was walking down.

He knew it was a man-hole cover because it bounced off the ceiling and nearly hit him from behind, narrowly missing him and landing several feet away. Terrified, Izuku turned around. Before him was a Slime person. They were covered in- er… they _were_ a massive slime nearly filling the whole tunnel with yellow eyes.

"Sup bitch." The slime said with a smile, revealing teeth floating in it's fluid-like mouth. The green haired boy trembled but managed to get his wits about him. Just because people looked different didn't mean they weren't friendly!

Izuku swallowed. "Can I help you with something, sir?"

"Actually, I'm a woman." The slime person corrected in a flat tone. Izuku flinched.

"Oh! I am so sorry ma'am!" Izuku said panicking. First being scared of her and then assuming her gender! Why couldn't he do anything right!?

"-And you can, in fact, help me with something…" the slime said with a bone chilling smile. Izuku trembled as she towered over him.

* * *

Izuku was choking on slime as the woman's slime form was trying to work its way down his esophagus through his mouth and nose. His whole body shuddered as the walls of his throat were expanded and the slime reached deeper and deeper into him, filling him with coldness.

His bones jutted out of his flesh, trying in vain to keep the slime woman from entering him, but the bones were totally useless against someone who was basically made of water and earth.

"Sorry sweetie…" the slime woman purred. "I would normally be a little gentler, but you see I'm in kind of a rush."

A large influx of slime pushed itself down his throat as his muscles desperately sought to expel the mass. He was blacking out and probably bleeding out… He couldn't breathe, he felt darkness closing in around him as cold slime reached into the furthest depths of his stomach.

He was dying, he realized. This person was killing him.

He was scared.

"If it's any consolation. You're really saving me a good bit of trouble here. Such a cool Quirk too. You'll be the perfect little meat suit..." The woman crooned. "My hero..."

Was it pathetic if he felt just a tiny bit happy hearing that?

All his life, he had been worthless… but even if it was helping a villain, he was just a tiny bit happy that he helped somebody…

He wished for something to happen, someone to save him…

A lone figure appeared in the tunnel.

"**Never fear young man, you are safe.**" He said. He was tall, and covered in rippling muscles. It was…

'_All-Might…?_' Izuku thought as everything began to fade to black.

"**TEXAS!**" All-Might said dodging tendrils of slime. He was so cool…**"_SMASSSSSHHHH_!"**

"Wind pressure?!" The slime villainess said in surprised as she was blown away.

Firm hands caught the nearly unconscious boy.

"**Gottcha kid…**" All-Might said. "**Kid?**"

Izuku passed out.

* * *

_Six years prior..._

Little Izuku watched the video again and again as he practiced with his new Quirk. His mommy seemed to get upset whenever he used it. Little Izuku frowned.

'_Mommy and Daddy were fighting again earlier…_' Izuku thought.

Since his Daddy found out about his new Quirk, they had been fighting. He didn't understand but he was pretty sure it was… his fault? Especially this last time. His Mommy just kept crying and saying 'I'm sorry' into the phone. She never went on the defensive, she just accepted that it was somehow her fault.

Little Izuku didn't understand. How was it her fault? Was his Daddy happy? Wasn't his Mommy happy that he had a cool Quirk? Little Izuku hugged his knees. Kacchan was being really mean lately. Why wasn't anyone happy that he had a Quirk? Why was everything so wrong?

His Quirk hurt a lot, but it was also warm. He liked the warm feeling in his bones, helping the pain in his chest go away some. Every once in awhile he would let the warmth build up under his skin and then gently allow it to fade. His Mommy didn't like it when he made his bones pop out. It made he scared and she was worried about how it hurt him.

That made sense…

But how was he supposed to get better at it without practice? Hence his practicing with the warm feeling while his Mommy was busy.

He felt bad disobeying Mommy's 'No Quirks used inside the house' rule but there was also a 'No Quirks outside the house' rule and a 'No Quirks at school' rule and a 'No Quirks at friends houses' rule.

Izuku was getting a little frustrated. Especially since Mommy broke her 'No Quirks used inside the house' rule all the time… She usually used it to grab something from the top shelf though, so Izuku felt bad disobeying the 'You can use Quirks if the situation calls for it but not until then' rule.

Still he wasn't _technically_ breaking the rules. He was only playing with the warm feeling… not making his bones pop out or anything.

Izuku frowned. Why was using his Quirk so bad anyways? If he did it at school nobody would know as long as he wiped the blood up… and he had only had his Quirk for a few weeks (that was a long time!) but he just felt weird not using it… It felt like it had always been part of him.

But it wasn't. It still hurt him a lot to use and even though he was getting better at controlling where the warmth went, but he still had a long way to go.

The Quirk-Man had given him this Quirk, and he was going to learn how to use it. He just needed to get the right movements…

* * *

_Present..._

Izuku woke to the feeling of someone smacking his cheek firmly, but soft enough not to actually cause damage. Izuku opened his eyes blearily and the light smacking stopped. The tired and aching boy slowly came to his senses.

"**Hello there young man! Thought we lost you there!"** All-Might said raising a hand in greeting.

Izuku rubbed his eyes. Was this what heaven felt like? He felt like crap… but hey! At least All-Might was here and-

Izuku's eyes snapped wide and he scuttled backward in panic. It was him! It was really him! All-Might was standing right in front of him!

'_Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh-!_' Izuku thought articulately before his thoughts were interrupted by a big hearty laugh he had never heard in person. It was even cooler up close!

Izuku kept muttering under his breath how cool the Hero,(No! The Symbol of Peace), was up close and in person. Seeing the young man fanboy, made All-Might decide the boy was probably okay.

"**Glad to see you're alright!"** All-Might laughed. "**I'm sorry to have gotten you involved in my Villain catching, but you were a big help! Thanks!**"

Wait, he helped All-Might? When did that happen-?

"W-wait where did the Villain go?" Izuku asked in a fearful tone, looking around wildly for the slime woman that tried to possess his body and lay eggs in his stomach or something!

All-Might held up two, two liter bottles triumphantly. The slime woman was groaning softly, she looked extremely dizzy.

Izuku cocked his head. That's how big the villain was? Huh… the boy was pretty sure she was bigger coming out of the sewer- oh!

The green haired boy fumbled around trying to find his backpack. He usually had a spare bottle around somewhere- there it was! Izuku pulled off the cap and grabbed a couple pills.

All-Might coughed. Izuku looked up.

"**I'm assuming that's some kind of medication?**" All-Might asked. Izuku looked down at the pills and up at All-Might again mortified.

All-Might thought he was doing drugs?!

"I-it's my antibiotics!" Izuku explained quickly. "I um… I have a Quirk that requires that I be careful with that sort of thing…"

Namely because blood, when you get right down to it, was rather filthy and when he was using his Quirk he was basically one giant open wound. A direct conduit for disease... Diseases and very serious viruses were present in blood and other junk that could get into his bloodstream and Izuku was rather keen on not acquiring any.

Izuku was immunized against most of the traditional STIs and STDs as a basic precaution and he had to go get new immunization shots every once in a while to help immunize himself against new strains. The anti-biotics were just an added precaution prescribed by the doctor.

**"Very well! I still need to take this guy to the police!"** All-Might said preparing for take-off. "**If that's all then I really must be off! Crime never sleeps and all that!"**

Izuku watched as his Hero began to crouch and in his heart clenched. He wanted to stop him. He needed to ask! He needed to know!

"Wait!" Izuku said suddenly grabbing the Hero without thinking. "There's something I need to ask yyyyoooouuuu!"

* * *

"**Thanks for your continued support!"** All-Might said, taking off with a mighty leap. Wind roared through the man's hair and rushed past his face. A perfect take off-! Wait… No, he felt a little drag there… Hmm… Where did that come from?

'_Wait…'_ All-Might thought checking behind him.

Izuku's lips were flapping, and the sheer air pressure were peeling his eyelids back and chapping his eyes immensely. All-Might recoiled at the sight.

"**Hey, hey, hey, hey!**" All-Might said finally noticing the boy and instinctively tried to pry him off of his leg. "**Look, I love my fans, but this is too much! Now get off!**"

"Wait! We're flying! If let go I'll die!" Izuku shouted in panic as All-Might tried to peel the fanboy off of himself. Thankfully, All-Might somehow seemed to hear him and stopped. Izuku couldn't hear a thing, his ears not used to the pressure. Never-the-less Izuku raised his head and spoke his wish.

"I…! Have…! Something…! Too…! Ask you!" Izuku tried saying as his lips and tongue battled against the wind and his eyes teared at dryness in his eyes probably making him look like some rubber mouthed freak. It hurt so much!

"**Okay! Okay! I get it!"** All-Might grimaced. **"Just close your eyes and mouth until we land! Keep your face down!**"

Then something happened.

Izuku couldn't really hear All-Might due to the wind rushing past his ears and had to decipher what he was saying, but in the time it took to do that, All-Might, the great Symbol of Peace coughed up a bit of blood.

Something was happening to All-Might. The powerful frame was hacking and wheezing and the stance that once spoke nothing, but power and security was now doubled over in midair in weakness. He was bleeding! Izuku cursed whatever gods were responsible for this terribly contrived situation. This was just ridiculous!

Trying to think of a way out of this mess, Izuku did some mental gymnastics.

All-Might can't actually fly, but he can leap tall buildings in a single bound! And since he said he was going to drop off the bottles at the police station that meant that they were probably heading in a slight thirty degree angle, to the right! Right?! And All-Might would then normally find them a safe spot to land, or possibly a point to bounce off of. Izuku grimaced at the implications of the second option.

If he didn't take control of the situation then both of them would go splat on the corner of some huge building! He had to-

_POOF!_

Izuku nearly fell off as he was now suddenly holding onto the leg of a small, thin, skeletal man hundreds of feet in the air going untold speeds towards something that was a fifty percent chance of being a 'bounce point'.

'_Oh! Come on!_' Izuku thought desperately at the new development.

The man was flapping in the wind like a rubber chicken just like him. He felt the trajectory slow due to the lack of sufficient mass and his heart pounded at nearly a million miles an hour.

'_I have to slow us down further or we aren't going to make it!_' Izuku thought. Taking the man into his arms and braced his body for impact, tapping into the warm feeling and allowing his bones to grow painfully through his uniform. It was basically ruined anyways.

His eyes watered as the bones broke through his flesh creating small 'branches'. He needed to protect All-Might!

Izuku then felt the skeletal man that was once All-Might brace himself and say, **"**Texas_… Smash!_**"**

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

"Come on Katsuki! Let's go down to the arcade!" Stretchy Fingers said. Bakugo had kinda forgotten his name again at this point.

"Nah, let's go scoutin' for hot chicks!" The Fat One said. Bakugo wasn't sure who he was either, but extras like these two losers seemed to follow him just about everywhere…

Finally, Bakugo put his foot down.

"Morons! I'm going to cram school!" Bakugo said glaring. "I gotta get my grades up if I'm going to make it into UA!"

That was his dream. Get jacked (check), get into UA (in the bag if these morons would let him get to cram school), and become the best hero of all time (pretty much in the bag, let's be honest.)

Nothing would stop Katsuki Bakugo from getting into UA and becoming the greatest Hero in the world. All the fame! All the respect! It was what he deserved! He took a pretty shitty quirk to be born with, mistakes were made early on, and made it a freaking masterpiece. He did it all by himself too! Stupid hag and weak-ass dad did help him with _shit_!

He _finally_ got the recognition he deserved! He _was_ amazing! His shit _was_ made of gold to these pukes! He was going to be the best Hero in the _world_ dammit! And then nobody would ever _dare_ look down on him again!

'_Are you okay?'_

'_Kacchan! Stop! Can't you see he's crying!?'_

'_I really think I could do it!_'

'_Stupid ass nerd!'_ Bakugo thought. '_Who does he think he is anyways!?_'

Bakugo grit his teeth and kicked a stupid-ass bottle that was in his way. He'd make sure everybody knew that he was the greatest. He'd be the strongest! And he'd do it _his_ way!

He paused no longer hearing his usual ensemble of praises from his two tag-alongs. Turning, he saw the reason.

Some kind of weird slime monster. Bakugo snarled as tendrils of shitty green slime and a huge gaping maw of teeth opened up in front of him.

Sparks crackled in his palms. He was the _best_. The greatest _ever_. There was no way in _hell_ he wasn't going down without a fight!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Let down**

* * *

The skeleton man threw a powerful punch.

It was so powerful that it caused a huge gust of wind, slowing down their descent enough that Izuku could grab hold of the skeletal man and roll onto a nearby rooftop in a series of rough tumbles.

Izuku protected the skeleton man by taking the brunt of damage on his bones. Shudders ran through his body as he absorbed the bouncing and impacts untill finally rolling to a stop.

"Ow…" Izuku said weakly getting up. Eventually he found the skeleton man. Thankfully, he had not been impaled. "Are you alright?!"

"Not really…" the skeleton man said. "I'm used to it though…"

Izuku peered closer into the man's eyes and then pulled away trembling. He had been so worried about falling to his death, or becoming an inconvenient blood splatter on the side of a building or something, that his mind hadn't addressed the elephant in the room, so to speak…

All-Might had… deflated.

Looking closer at the man, Izuku could see the man was actually quite tall just hunched over as the giant of a man… just thin as a rail. His neck had enough room for All-Might's powerful ox-like neck muscles, his arms were long enough, heck even his face and hair seemed to be roughly the same size, just sharper and horribly thin…

Izuku trembled. "What happened to you All-Might? Wait! What if this is somehow part of my Quirk!? Oh no, I killed All-Might!"

"I'm not Kenny… I don't die so easily." the skeleton man panted, looking blearily at Izuku's panicking. Wait- did All-Might reference South Park? "S'natural… not part of your Quirk… Speaking of which… those look kinda painful…"

The boy stared at the man. Blue eyes stared back.

'_Huh?_' Izuku thought intelligently before he realized that yes, he was in some serious pain.

"Ow…" Izuku said as the bones still stuck out of his flesh, staining his body even redder than before. He had tried using his Quirk against the Slime Woman, but he must have retracted them at some point. Right now, however, the bones were very much outside his body… "I-I um… I haven't really used my Quirk since I was eight for… um… obvious reasons… But um… I can work on it! Um… Oh man… um… Give me a second?"

Skele-Might stood stock still, his eyes focused on the bones still sticking out of the boy's body. Izuku took a deep breath and slowly retracted the warm feeling back into his body. His bones retracted and his flesh closed up painfully behind them.

If he wanted to, he could probably stick his fingers in the holes up to his second knuckle or so. The wounds were literally bone deep.

They would slowly heal over the course of a few minutes and be mostly gone by the time he got home. Izuku could even see some old holes from the previous encounter with the slime woman, but those seemed to be nearly healed compared to the new ones.

Soon he was covered in red wounds, and looked like he had been something's pin cushion but other than that. He looked fine.

"Are you… going to be okay?" Skele-Might asked looking the boy over. His wounds… they were healing… A mild regeneration factor… It didn't look especially quick. Just a slow and steady healing rate. Interesting…

"Um, yeah… I have just not made this many bones in a while…" Izuku said, pinching a particularly large wound in his forearm together in an effort to get it to heal back together quicker. Blood squirted from the boy's other wounds. "… I think it will clot…"

Skele-Might didn't look so certain. Izuku fidgeted.

"Um… So… are you like some kind of really good imposter or something?" Izuku asked, still trying to get his wounds to close together.

Skele-Might sighed. "No… It's really me. I don't really owe you an explanation, but I got roughed up quite a bit in a fight a few years ago and got injured." Skele-Might shrugged. "Still gotta be a Hero though right? If I gave up or quit, I'd hate to think what will happen. So don't leak this on the net okay?"

"Um… I… I wanted to ask you actually…" Izuku faltered. "I-I mean…"

Skele-Might stared as Izuku fumbled over his words.

"You've been my Hero for a long time All-Might so… I'll keep your condition a secret." Izuku said fidgeting. "But I wanted to ask you, so badly that I tried to stop you from leaving… It's just… My Quirk… Do you think someone like me can become a Hero? My Quirk hurts me a lot, and it's really gross sometimes… but I truly want to be a Hero like you and rescue people with a smile on my face… and…"

"What does your Quirk do exactly?" All-Might asked with a bit of indulgent curiosity.

"Um… I can control the osteoclasts and osteoblasts in my body." Izuku explained. At All-Might's look of incomprehension Izuku simplified. "I can control the cells which break down and build bones. The problem is they come from already existing bone so if I want to use them to fight, they kinda burst out of my skin and leave open wounds. Um… I have a bit of a healing factor though so it's not like I'll die… Oh! My skeleton is also basically indestructible if I have enough calcium in me…"

All-Might was silent during the explanation and contemplated how to answer.

"I'm not going to lie, that sounds pretty terrible." All-Might said. Izuku flinched. "I've been struggling with my own health condition for nearly six years and I have to say that I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It absolutely blows to be a Hero with a medical condition and one just starting out… I hate to say this, but if your Quirk really causes you that much pain to use- heck I don't even think support gear would help since it's your bones but… Sorry kid. I think it would be next to impossible for you to become a Hero."

"What?" Izuku said and felt a major piece of him die. All-Might raised his hands up in surrender.

"I'm not saying that your Quirk wouldn't be helpful, but you'd probably want to keep your bones inside your body like you've been doing. You'd have some pretty good strength and recovery feats but not quite enough to be a Hero, hero… ya know?" All-Might said getting up. "But it's not like you'd be totally Quirkless! You could be an excellent policeman or firefighter! Think of it! A cop with an unbreakable skeleton! You don't have to be someone who endures that much pain every time. Like I said, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone…"

Izuku stood stock still as All-Might tried to let his dreams down gently. Was it really so hard to imagine?

"There's nothing wrong with having dreams, young man. Just make sure they are attainable." All-Might said finally reaching the rooftop exit. "I got to take this one to the police station… If you need medical attention for those wounds I think the hospital is somewhere on Center Street… Polis Massa Regional I think. And kid?"

Izuku looked up and saw the skeletal frame of his hero.

"Try not to jump on Heroes, okay?" Skele-Might said.

Izuku nodded.

And with that All-Might exited, leaving Izuku in his own little pit of despair on the rooftop.

* * *

All-Might felt bad.

He tried to let the kid down gently but… The boy's Quirk was just too difficult for him to use. He could see it when the boy tried to pull those bones back into his body. It looked like he had very little practice with it… And if it caused him that much pain, and then the fact his healing factor was on the slower side…

All-Might shook his head. The boy had potential if only his stats were a bit better. He'd be a terrifying Hero- heck, he'd probably scare the pants off of whoever he fought just from sheer creep out factor alone… All-Might knew a couple of Heroes like that. Some of them did pretty well for themselves.

"Alright. Let's get you down to the police station-" All-Might tapped his pocket thoughtfully and froze.

Right. Empty.

Left. Empty.

An explosion sounded in the distance.

"What are the odds that, that is unrelated?" All-Might thought aloud.

He watched smoke rise from somewhere from amongst the buildings of Mustufatu for a moment.

"Low…" All-Might confirmed for himself and began to book it down the stairs.

* * *

_Six years ago..._

"Mommy?" Izuku whimpered softly after his ninth birthday. He was re-watching that same All-Might video once again. "He's so cool... Can I be a Hero like him now that I have a Quirk?"

He didn't know what he was expecting. No… he knew exactly what he was expecting. He was just sure it would be a different answer this time.

"I'm sorry sweetie… I… I don't know." His mother said dubiously. "I really don't know…"

It wasn't what he needed her to say…

Was it really that hard to imagine?

* * *

Izuku had eventually found his way back down another rooftop access. He couldn't bring himself to use the one All-Might had used. The boy's chest hurt and his eyes began to water, and not from the various wounds on his body either.

He sniffed. Gosh… why was he so pathetic?

Everyone told him. Everyone told him that he couldn't be a Hero. His mom, his classmates, the teachers, Katsuki, heck even All-Might…

He was… He just wanted to…

He wanted to be acknowledged. He wanted to be a Hero! He wanted to be someone who would save everyone and smile while doing it! Like All-Might could!

So why? Why was he given this near useless Quirk? Why was his life some sick joke? He could be strong. He could-

Maybe that's why it was so pathetic. He was so caught up in it Izuku never even thought about what to do if his dream never became a reality. Not even every Hero made it into the big leagues…

All-Might was right. He could be a doctor or a cop or… or…

Then Izuku noticed it. A crowd?

Years of watching Hero fights on the streets took charge and he began to make his way to the action.

* * *

Deatharms was pretty sure this was one of the worst situations he had faced in his career so far. He was having a smoke break when suddenly the entire street exploded. Some slime villain was blowing up the street, had hit a gas line, knocked down some electrical/telephone lines, and was just generally wreaking havoc.

The Pro Hero stared out past the virtual ocean of flames and debris. He was looking for any survivors or other people who needed to get to safety while his buddy Backdraft tried to single handedly put out the entire street and keep the fire from spreading until the more traditional firefighters showed up. From the sound of the crowd behind him, it would be a miracle to get a truck in through this tiny backroad.

"Oh no!" Mt. Lady, that crazy party crasher, exclaimed. "My one weakness! I need at least a four lane highway to fight!"

Deatharms nearly facepalmed. '_Then shrink down and do your best to get the civilians out of harm's way…'_

Honestly, they'd give anyone a Hero license nowadays…

Another explosion sounded ringing through the streets and parting the flames briefly. The Pro Hero's eyes widened as he recognized a figure standing in the midst of the slime.

_'A kid?!_' The man thought. Deatharms weighed his options. Kamui was working on getting people to safety, Backdraft was trying to put out the fire, and here he was just standing there trying to find someone to save. Yup, he was best used in this situation getting the kid out of there.

"Don't worry kid!" Deatharms said running into the flames, dodging falling debris and slime tendrils. He tried grabbing a handful of slime and yanked. "Get yer mits off of 'im!"

The Slime woman chuckled. "Claw all you want! My whole body is made of liquid!"

"Get the hell off me!" The kid's muffled roar said as he brought down another impressive explosion to try and get the slime off of him, blasting away part of the villain, but also blast Deatharms back onto his butt.

"Stay with me kid!" Deatharms said recovering quickly like the pro he was and turning on his mic to talk to the other Heroes. "Update! Villain has a hostage! Liquid body Quirk! My strength is doing nothin'! Can anyone assist?!"

_"Negative!_" Kamui said quickly. _"Got a whole building left to evacuate and I am burning up-! I was actually going to ask Backdraft for-!"_

_"Don't look at me!"_ Backdraft said, irritation and stress evident in his voice. _"I'm trying to stop this fire from spreading and engulfing the city!"_

"_Also a no from me!_" Mt. Lady said into his earpiece. _"I'm basically Quirkless if I don't have enough space! I could help protect the crowd coming in on my side though-!"_

_"Do that!"_ Backdraft quickly agreed. "_Also could you try and make room for a fire truck?! I am not doing so hot over here!"_

Deatharms grit his teeth and clenched his hands as he watched the kid try another blast to shake the slime. He was totally powerless in this situation!

"D-dammit!" Deatharms said.

* * *

All-Might arrived on the scene.

Or rather Skele-Might.

He was heaving. He had parkored down the flight of stairs and ran all this way…

There was a sharp pain in his chest. Yup… his one remaining lung was definitely feeling it… and also he might have re-opened that ulcer somewhere in his intestines where the doctors had tried to make him a new stomach… and his heart was going so fast it was skipping beats. Was that natural? Also he was out of time for today. Heck, he had pushed himself to go beyond plus-ultra to save himself and that kid…

Needless to say, All-Might wasn't 'Alright'…

He clutched a nearby street sign in an attempt to steady himself and try and take a breather. Everything hurt. His lung felt like it was on fire, his new stomach felt like someone had stabbed him, and his heart rate still wasn't going down. He grit his teeth anyways and surveyed the situation. Three Heroes on the scene, well four if he wasn't seeing double…

Mt. Lady was keeping the crowd back this time. Backdraft, that poor bastard, was trying to keep the fire at bay until help showed up and Kamui was risking severe burn damage to rescue civilians from the burning buildings. He wouldn't be able to fight any time soon… Through the flames he thought he could see Deatharms trying to fight the villain but- Oh shit! Was that a hostage?!

That changed the situation entirely! All-Might grit his teeth and tried to get a little closer. His coughs began to be even more painful and blood was trickling down his mouth already. Shit…

All-Might never felt so helpless…

* * *

Izuku stood at the back of the crowd as Mt. Lady tried to corral them to a safe distance.

This was bad. Who could have done something like this?

"Did you hear? The Heroes are fighting some kind of slime villain!"

"I hear it has a hostage!" One with a 'Hero Tuner' radio set said.

Izuku's eyes widened at that news. '_The slime villain? How did-? I though All-Might caught her?'_

Mental images flashed through Izuku's mind of the mid air emergency landing.

_'It must have been when All-Might deflated midair… which means…'_ Izuku thought beginning to feel panic spread through him. '_… all of this is my fault… If I hadn't grabbed onto All-Might's leg then the Villain wouldn't have fallen out of All-Might's pocket and-"_

Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the air causing Izuku and the rest of the crowd to jump. Recognition rang in Izuku's mind.

"Geez! It has a liquid body and can explode!?"

"No-! I think it might be the hostage trying to free himself! He's just a middle schooler and totally freaking out-!"

'_Kacchan…'_ Izuku thought as his heart sank to his stomach.

Suddenly, Izuku was pushing his way through the crowd. He was sure it was him, but he had to make sure!

Pushing to the front Izuku tried-

"Look kid! It's a big battle and all of you need to stay back!" Mt. Lady said. Izuku didn't pay attention as he caught sight of blonde hair and a muffled roar rip through the air before the street was hit with another explosion.

It was Kacchan…

Izuku's mind worked quickly in a hurried panicked rate, not even sure what he was going to do. His first obstacle was Mt. Lady, but she was in her usual size and not helping which meant- she couldn't use her Quirk without squishing all of them and-

Izuku dashed past. His legs felt like they were moving on their own.

"Hey! Kid wait!" Mt. Lady said before rapidly speaking into her mic. "I got a stray kid coming in! Try and stop him!"

Izuku then ducked under an unprepared Kamui Woods, his tree-like arms laden with people and covered in burns.

"Hey-!" Kamui said, but Izuku kept running past Backdraft. "Deatharms!"

"Kid! Stay out of the way!" Deatharms pleaded, but was caught by another of Katsuki's explosions. Up close he could really feel them.

Izuku ducked past and his mind raced to try and find a way to save him. Images of the fight earlier today came to mind. Kamui using his super move to make an opening for Mt. Lady to get the drop on the Giant Villain.

'_Step one, if your opponent is stronger than you, create a distraction to make an opening!'_ Izuku thought desperately swinging his backpack off and throwing it at the villain. '_Step two, prioritize rescue of the principle.'_

One of his pencil's somehow got caught in the Slime woman's eye causing her to shriek in pain and retract herself from Katsuki.

"Deku? What… the hell… are you… doing here?" Katsuki coughed, trying to get what remained of the woman out of his throat. "Get away…"

Izuku ignored him as a plan formed in his mind. "I think her eyes are her weak point! I'll attack, blinding her and then you blow her away got it!?"

Katsuki only nodded as more sludge crawled up his neck to gain entrance to his mouth. The slime woman's eye looked bloodshot and furious.

"Don't discuss plans in front of your enemy!" The slime woman said raising a tendril. Izuku didn't have time to dodge when-

"You idiot!" Deatharms said, blocking the strike and allowing himself to get caught in the woman's tendril. "Now!"

Izuku felt the warmth travel up his arm in an instant, piercing through an already created hole, meaning less muscle to pierce and attacked the woman's other eye with a savage spike. The slime woman screamed and released Katsuki once more to cover her face when suddenly Katsuki let loose his largest explosion yet.

Izuku was pretty sure he felt his eardrums burst from the sheer force of the explosion. His ears were ringing, and he felt like he was underwater. Everything hurt. Still over the powerful din of the ringing he could still hear Katsuki scream at the top of his lungs.

"_I didn't get her!"_ Katsuki said, his voice cracking with panic.

Izuku's eyes widened as he took in Deatharm's unconscious form, and the furious slime woman re-emerging with a sadistic smile. Izuku couldn't hear what she was saying, but he was sure it wasn't something nice. Still, Izuku rolled over as best he could and tried to put himself between the slime and Katsuki.

Katsuki looked wide eyed as Izuku shakily stood between the Villain and himself.

"Never… Fear… For… I… Am… Here…" Izuku panted. He couldn't stand up straight but there he stood. Pain etched onto his face as he struggled to stand, but he was also smiling… If he was going to die, he at least wanted to go out smiling.

**"That's enough young man. You've done enough."** A voice said behind him. Izuku turned.

"All… Might?" Izuku wheezed.

All-Might was back in his muscle form, standing like a regal, smiling, pillar of manliness and heroism. The Symbol of Peace…

**"I really am pathetic."** All-Might said, his mouth dripping blood like he was injured. **"I told you the traits that make a great champion, but it seems like I wasn't living up to my own ideals! The truth is Pro-Heroes should always be willing to risk their life to protect the innocent! No matter what the cost!"**

"Why you-!" The Slime woman said raising another tendril.

"**DETROIT!"** All-Might said cocking back a massive fist. **"_SMASSSSSHHH!"_**

Just like before, All-Might summoned a mighty whirlwind. Mt. Lady and the other Heroes did their best to protect the civilians from the blast of concussive wind. The pressure blew out the fires, and for good measure-

"He… He changed the weather…" A civilian said in awe of the man's god-like strength as the sky began to rain down in a torrential downpour.

"And he put out the fires in one punch…" another said.

Slowly, cheers began to break out amongst the crowd as All-Might helped Deatharms to his feet and gave him a hearty pat on the back. Deatharms looked in awe as well.

Everything was back to how it should be...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: You CAN be a Hero!**

* * *

The police and other emergency response units arrived on the scenes shortly, and they managed to contain the Slime woman in a vacuum cleaner-like apparatus. Katsuki was given medical attention and a couple of the Pro-Heroes gave him some extra attention.

"That was one hellova blast!" A Hero who arrived late to the conflict said. "If you ever decide to go Pro feel free to hit up my agency!"

"Yeah! You'll make a great Hero with that kind of power!" Another said.

Katsuki scowled. Where the hell were these losers when he was getting choked out huh? Trying to recruit him. Feh… like he would ever join up with some second rate extra. Speaking of which… Katsuki glanced to his right where he saw stupid friggin Deku getting chewed out by both Deatharms and Kamui, both of whom were injured from trying to rescue people.

"You total idiot!" Deatharms roared. "Do you even think!? If it hadn't a' been fer me you woulda been a smear on the concrete!"

"Don't go rushing into danger! Do you see these burns! Just because your Quirk has a healing factor component doesn't make you immortal!" Kamui chastised with his arm in a sling. Stupid Deku just… sat there and took it…

Katsuki turned back to glared at his hands. He wasn't strong enough… He should have been able to blow that slime bitch away with one blow… Like All-Might did… He made another glance at Deatharms and Kamui's injuries. Maybe he needed more control too… Hmm… Whatever…

He was going to be the best.

At least until then, he was still better than Stupid Deku… and his STUPID life risking stunts and shit…

* * *

Izuku walked home alone, his ears still ringing and his pride still a little bruised from Deatharms and Kamui Woods laying into him like that. They were even injured. Kamui looked like a mummy from all his burns and Deatharms had one of his arms in a sling from when the slime villain and Katsuki's subsequent explosion caused a small hairline fracture. He wasn't 'Deatharms' for nothing…

He should probably find some way to apologize to them, maybe he could give a good review on their agencies or something. And he owed All-Might a ton for saving them all last second. And for accidentally letting the villain escape. That was all on him…

Izuku sighed. At least Katsuki was okay and he himself would be healed up. His school uniform, not so much, but what was a school uniform compared to the life of his school bully? Izuku shrunk a bit at that. Why couldn't he have saved someone who would have actually appreciated-

"DEKU!" Katuski bellowed behind him. Izuku jumped.

"Katsuki!?" Izuku asked. Katsuki grabbed him by the collar of Izuku's ruined school uniform and slammed him up against a nearby wooden fence.

"I didn't need your help you stupid bastard! I had that bitch right where I wanted her!" Katsuki said.

"Six inches down your throat?" Izuku asked before he could stop himself.

"What?! No! Sicko!" Katsuki said, dropping him and sputtering. "Anyways I'm not going to thank you for something I could have obviously done on my own! I would _never_ ask help from some puke like you! You're just some useless failure that wouldn't even cut it as a rent-a-cop! Got that!? I was fine on my own! You don't get to look down on me! You did nothing! Don't forget that! I don't owe you anything!"

And with that Katsuki stormed off leaving Izuku alone on the floor of the alleyway.

'_Wait… was… Katsuki trying to thank me?_' Izuku thought getting up. '_Weird… Well… at least I finally got to be a Hero for once… kinda… Does it count as being a Hero if you were technically the cause of the incident in the first place? I don't think I really did much… I guess I should get back to trying to give up on my dreams…'_

Izuku was just about to turn the corner to get home when-

**"I am HERE!**" All-Might said skidding to a halt in the middle of the alleyway.

"All-Might?!" Izuku squeaked before regaining his composure. "What are you doing here!? I thought you were, you know, injured?! Is it really okay for you to spend your strength like this?"

"**Actually, I've never felt bett-**_AH_!" All-Might said trying to pose before deteriorating quickly and coughing up blood. In an instant he was back to Skele-Might and wiping up the blood coming from his mouth.

"Young man, I tracked you down so I could thank you." Skele-Might said finally. "If I hadn't heard about your Quirk, and your life, I would have been a worthless bystander in that fight. So, I wanted to thank you."

"No!" Izuku said waving his hands, rejecting the thanks. "It was my fault that she was even there to begin with! I ran in and got in the way. I should have let the Pros take care of it. I wasted your energy, not to mention your time…"

"I'm not done." Skele-Might said. "You told me that your Quirk harms you. That every time you use it, it causes you pain. Not to mention it would have been totally ineffectual against that opponent… but you went in anyways."

Izuku looked up at his hero.

"So, when I saw this timid, basically-quirkless boy go up and try and save a life… it inspired me to act too." All-Might said. "There are stories. Stories of Heroes and how they became truly great. Most of them have one thing in common. Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think… and then after moving and rushing into danger they began to make the right calls, and work together…"

Izuku felt his eyes begin to water. Was he-?

"And today… that's what happened to you." All-Might said as Izuku sank to his knees, totally over-come with emotion. "Young man, you too can become a Hero. It isn't impossible."

Izuku wept. Those words… the words he needed to hear for so long, came.

"I deem you worthy to inherit my power!" All-Might said dramatically.

"What?" Izuku said looking up from his tears.

"My power can be inherited-!" All-Might began.

"Like how the Quirk-Man gave me his?" Izuku asked. All-Might froze.

"What?" All-Might said hollowly.

"Well… I was actually Quirkless up until a few years ago." Izuku explained, a little alarmed at the horrified expression All-Might was making. "When I was eight I had a weird dream about some guy trading me a Quirk for my first Hero notebook. My doctor told me that it was just a dream though. I guess I was always a late bloomer and-"

"Do your parents have totally different Quirks than you?" All-Might asked, no… demanded.

"Um… yeah…" Izuku said, twiddling his fingers. "My dad… um… he thought…"

All-Might raised a hand. "I don't need to know about that. Hmm… This is troubling… Have you had any contact with this 'Quirk-Man' since then?"

Izuku shook his head. "No! Like I said, it was just a dream! Apparently it is an extremely rare phenomenon and sometimes can cause Quirks to come late-"

"Alright." All-Might said cutting him off. He crossed his arms to think. "Shouldn't be a huge problem… hmm… Well, in for a penny… Yes, I can pass on my power like your 'Quirk-Man' except my Quirk is very different but related to his. Its name is One-For-All."

"One-For-All?" Izuku said in awe.

"Yeah, whenever the tabloids try to guess my power, they either think it's some kind of 'boost' or 'super strength' Quirk, but it's not." All-Might said. "It's actually a Stockpiling Quirk that can be passed down from one generation to the next like a sacred torch."

"Stockpiling?" Izuku wondered aloud.

"Yes. It works by gathering strength from the user, and then passing it to the next generation who in turn builds more strength, until the last user has the compiled strength and will of the all the previous users." All-Might explained. "I am the eighth generation to wield this sacred power, and, if you so choose, I deem you worthy to be the ninth."

"This is… unreal…" Izuku breathed. "I thought the Quirk-Man was a dream, but if this is true it could totally change how we understand Quirks…"

"The 'Quirk-Man'…" All-Might said face pinching up in momentary anger. "Anyways, I am looking for a successor. As you can see, I am not exactly in the best condition to keep going and soon…"

"So you need someone to hang onto it…" Izuku said thinking aloud again. "And cultivate the power and then hand it off to the next…"

"Exactly." All-Might said.

"Why give me such a power?" Izuku asked. "I mean… I am sure you have much better options than someone like me."

"Wow, you really need to stop putting yourself down so much." All-Might said flatly. "Young man, you were a basically Quirkless fanboy and you went in there with no thought for yourself. No thought for your own safety and did everything you knew how to try and rescue that boy. Even though I have some misgivings here and there, I got a gut feeling. You're something special kid, so I'm going to give you a shot."

All-Might then smacked his head. "I mean-! It's up to you, and you can choose either way! I'm not going to just force a random Quirk on you."

Izuku felt a chill up his spine as he heard those words. He barely remembered the 'Quirk-Man' but he suddenly remembered his smile. It wasn't a nice smile like All-Might's. That smile would totally just force a random Quirk on someone… All-Might's wasn't like that.

Izuku bowed his head. "Honestly? This is kinda crazy, but… if you think I can do it, I accept."

"A quick answer!" All-Might said with a grin. "I'd expect nothing less! Unlike before with the Quirk-Man, my power is a bit much for you right now. Meet me at Dagobah Beach for training first thing tomorrow morning!"

Izuku felt a dubious feeling in his heart but nodded. This was already going better than the first time…

* * *

Izuku stared at the ceiling, his mind so awake that he couldn't sleep properly. Today… was a thing…

He managed to get attacked by a villain, met All-Might, found out All-Might is only 'mostly dead', fought the slime villain again but this time with help, and then was rescued by All-Might and then offered All-Might's power…

Honestly? Izuku was just kinda wondering if perhaps he had somehow died fighting the slime villain on his way home and this was all some kind of death hallucination before he was plunged into the uncaring void…

But no… the pain he still felt from his wounds, fussed over by his mother, and just about a million other things told him that 'Nope. This isn't a dream.'

It was all so… fantastical, and insane, and just-! Izuku was having a hard time believing it.

Slowly, he went to sleep. He'd go to Dagobah Beach tomorrow, and if All-Might was there, he would know he wasn't dreaming…

* * *

Izuku yanked at the ropes again trying to get the refrigerator to budge even in the slightest but ended up falling flat on his face.

He wasn't dreaming yesterday, but he wasn't ruling out that he might have gone crazy. This All-Might hallucination was rather realistic though…

"**You know it would be better for both of us if you could move this just an inch or so!"** All-Might said with that deep booming voice and using that savage imperial system instead of the much more sensible metric system… "**People move these everyday you know! Most of them don't even have any super strength!**"

"It might be easier if you got off!" Izuku said into the dirt before he could stop himself. "You weigh like, six-hundred pounds!"

"**Hey! I've lost weight!"** All-Might said in mock offense. **"I only weigh like five-hundred and sixty in this form!"**

"It's still a lot!" Izuku snapped up.

"**Psshh. Look at yourself!"** All-Might said snickering and pulling out his phone to take a couple pictures of the boy sprawled out in the sand. **"You're nowhere near ready to inherit my power!"**

"But that's literally the opposite of what you said yesterday!" Izuku whimpered. He should have known… Everyone was just getting ready to kick dirt in his face like Katsuki-

**"I meant your weak body!"** All-Might said jumping down off of the fridge. "**If I just gave you my power right now you'd most likely… hmm… given that your skeleton is basically indestructible, and you have a healing factor… probably rip and tear every muscle and tendon in your body."**

"_WHAT?!"_ Izuku said incredulously.

**"I told you, my power works by gathering strength from many different users. It's the combined power of not just myself but also all of the previous holders of my Quirk!**" All-Might tried to explain. **"If I gave it to some random Quirkless person, their limbs might try to explode off of their body."**

Izuku whimpered some. "Wait… so you mean in order to inherit your Quirk I have to-"

All-Might stood at the refrigerator and the crushed it flat with a single hand. **"You must strengthen your entire body. Not just the muscles, but all the connective tissue as well! I was totally Quirkless before I inherited this power. If I can do it, you definitely can!"**

Izuku stared at the flattened fridge. All-Might picked it up and tossed it like a frisbee.

**"Your task is simple, yet challenging."** All-Might said turning to the beach at large. **"This beach used to be a public recreation spot and very popular for couples a few years back. Now look at it. Someone dumped some trash here and it became a sort of illegal dumping ground. A lot of Heroes fight crime but there are many more, less flashy ways to be a Hero. Your task is to restore the beach to it's former glory by picking up and throwing away every ounce of trash! You will build a better beach and let the beach build you a better beach bod!"**

Izuku stared at the literal mountain of trash covering the enormous beach. While not particularly big, the beach was at least several soccer fields and some of the trash probably couldn't be picked up at high tide. Still… if he needed to earn his new Quirk…

"What's my time frame?" Izuku asked. All-Might smiled.

**"Have you ever thought of attending UA high?"** All-Might asked. Izuku nodded.

"I am already applied." Izuku said. "Wait… does that mean-?"

**"Yes."** All-Might said pulling out a sheet of paper. **"This is my 'Aim to Pass! American Dream Plan!'. I took the liberty of building you a heavily regimented work out routine along with sleeping and diet restrictions for your body type and current level of strength. Your goal will be to clear the beach before the entrance exam in ten months."**

All-Might then pulled out a business card. "**You will also need some skills that I don't have time at the moment to train you in, so go to this place. Ask for Simon and tell him you want to learn how to 'dance'. He will teach you a fighting style that should compliment your Quirk quite nicely."**

Izuku took the schedule and the business card. It was red and gaudy looking with an extremely cheap and handmade look to it.

"'Russia Sushi'?" Izuku asked. All-Might's smile deepened.

**"Just don't ask for the house special!"** All-Might laughed. **"Now! Let's get athletic!"**

Izuku stared at the paper one moment longer. Right… He would have to play catch up for a little bit, but that just meant he would have to work even harder than he ever had before!

And thus Izuku's ten months of hell began…

* * *

Elsewhere…

Katsuki Bakugo had woken up to a nightmare of the slime villain. He was sitting up in bed, panting as a cold sweat broke out across his body. It felt like millions of tiny spiders were crawling down his back. Or that weird villain's slime covering his body, trying to block his hands, and his airways.

Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose and began focusing on his breathing. In and out, just like his counselor said. It wasn't like people were blind to his anger issues and it wasn't like he was either. He knew he had a problem. He was getting counseling and working through some of his insecurities. Especially after being held hostage by some second rate villain… It wasn't like he was scared or nothing… He just had difficulty sleeping sometimes. That's all! Nothing else!

Besides, his counselor was one of the few people Katsuki respected. He was some kind of former Pro Hero that wasn't afraid of his explosions like his dad was or didn't get pissed at him like his mom did. Someone that would actually _listen_… and sometimes… Katsuki would listen back…

The blonde boy sighed and began to get up and get ready for the day when he heard something beep.

He glared at the offending appendages sitting neatly on the side table next to him. His stupid hearing aids… They were some top line shit that helped him- But it wasn't like he was disabled or anything! He just- sometimes it was hard to hear shit at a certain volume okay!? 'Sides, he normally took the shitty things off when he went to school. He wasn't disabled! His Quirk wasn't-

Katsuki sighed and put them in, tuning them to the right tone, using the ticking of his alarm clock to hear. The hearing aids helped by bringing shit that should be heard normally up or down to a frequency that Katsuki could actually register. Shit like Deku's stupid high pitched voice was too high for his normal hearing range while his own explosions were too low. He could still hear the 'boom' but only the 'middle' frequency where the noise was a tolerable level. Some shit about his body becoming perfectly streamlined for his Quirk. He could listen to his own explosions all day and it wouldn't do him any harm, but normal speaking tones were lost on him and certain higher pitched sounds were-

Katsuki growled and put the stupid things in place, behind his ears and that shit was clear so nobody would be able to see it! The prideful boy then got up and began to train, pushing the events of a few days ago and his own troubles aside as he hyper focused on his goal.

He was going to become a Pro Hero. Not just a Pro, but the best!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Seven times down, eight times up**

* * *

"Carry it to the truck!" All-Might cheered in his 'Skele-Might' form. "Let's get athletic!"

Izuku struggled to even drag the extraordinarily heavy filing cabinet. But inch by inch he managed. Where was a strong desire to improve, and that desire measured and recorded and then learned from, there would be excellence.

It took Izuku nearly two hours, but he had finally carried the filing cabinet to the truck.

"I'll load it!" All-Might said. "You grab a few more things and we'll dump it!"

Panting, Izuku nodded. This work out was a lot but that was the point, it was meant to push him! He was forced to use different muscles depending on the size and weight of the object, and slowly Izuku was finding his limits and pushing them. Izuku carried a few more tires to be brought over to the recycling truck. The recycled rubber could be used for a large variety of things and the steel from the filing cabinet could be used for new park benches and stuff!

He eventually got the huge pile into the truck and All-Might handed him a water bottle and a granola bar.

"Drink up young man!" All-Might said. "It's important to stay hydrated and fueled!"

Izuku nodded. He was only so far into his training…

* * *

"Let's see, with the advent of Quirks, certain building codes were updated, and the Building Standard Act was revised with these new events in mind-"

Izuku was struggling to stay awake. His body had a healing factor, meaning he could go harder and longer and come back sooner than most people, but he still needed fuel. If he didn't get proper nutrition and the correct combination of minerals than his body would try to waste energy synthesizing the necessary building blocks from glycogen or… his sugars…

'Need… water… and… granola bar…' Izuku thought desperately. 'This is tough…'

"-and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation-"

_'Ten months of this?_' Izuku thought blearily beginning to write down notes in his notebook. _'It'll be hard if I don't finish by a week before the exam… Which means that there are two-hundred and ninety-four days left until… Taking into account a suitable recovery period, if I rest two days between each workout session, that leaves me about… ninety- eight days of real training before the entrance exam if I am being efficient… And if I get about five hours of training morning and night- should I split that up some? Yeah, about three hours in the morning and two hours in the evening should be doable if I- wait how much sleep should I get again? I guess I should stick to All-Might's plan on that one._ _That means I will be getting about four-hundred and ninety hours of training in. Will that be enough though? I don't know who this 'Simon' guy is, but he is taking up one of my rest days on Sundays. Also, that beach workout routine doesn't exactly target any one specific part of the body. If I don't use my whole body at one-hundred percent, than there's no way I'm going to pass the entrance exam. I need to body build to create a body that can adapt not only to my Quirk but to any situation. Literally intensive training to become a Hero… All-Might can't just sit and watch me all the time… If I don't do as much efficient independent training as I can, there's no way that I'll make it. I'll have to cut-"_

"Hey! Midoriya!" The teacher said using his Quirk to bop the boy on the head. Izuku looked up in surprise. "What? Your encounter with that villain make you go crazy or something? Pretty presumptuous to think you'll get into UA if you don't pay attention in class!"

"Right! Sorry, sir!" Izuku said as the class erupted in snickers at him. Katsuki glared and then turned away from him in a huff.

_'Also I need to study for the qualifying exams!'_ Izuku thought. _'UA only accepts the best!'_

"Right! Now as I was saying-" The teacher continued over his chattering students.

"_Dude! Midoriya is already wigging out!"_

_"You think he'll go all 'Pumped up for Kicks' if he goes full mental breakdown?"_

_"Shush! Don't even joke like that! But yeah totally!"_

Izuku sighed and continued to take notes. He'd do whatever it took to become a Hero!

* * *

Izuku stood before the large black Russian sushi man- no, that was kinda racist. He was a Russian sushi chef that happened to be of African decent? Wait, he could be a bit Japanese, not exactly with that kind of height on him, but it was a bit early to call the man out on his racial or cultural ethnicity, when he hadn't even talked to the guy. Wait- was he being racist even thinking about this sort of thing? It felt kinda racist…

"Hello mister, long time no see!" the man greeted in bad Japanese. Izuku swallowed his stereotypes and just let the man be in his head.

"You buy Russia Sushi, ya?" the man asked.

Izuku had a menu shoved in his face. Wait, who put cream cheese in sushi? That sounded a bit odd… and onions and beets? Weird… The large man, and he was massive, stood at nearly All-Might's height and had thick set shoulders. Honestly, he hoped he hadn't been hallucinating All-Might the last few days because his next question might sound a little weird.

"Um… I… Could you teach me how to 'dance'?" Izuku asked holding up the business card. The man paused then smiled really big.

"But of course!" The man Izuku assumed was 'Simon'. "All-Might sent you, no? He come here very often! Buys lots of sushi!"

"Really?" Izuku asked. All-Might didn't seem like the 'sushi' type, but to each his own.

"But of course!" Simon said. "If he send you, there is no problems! My shift over in an hour. Come! Eat lots of sushi!"

Izuku hastily accepted a menu and waited inside. Strangely enough, cream cheese didn't taste half bad inside sushi. And the man who prepared the sushi seemed to look at him with sunken eyes before getting back to work. Izuku smiled politely and returned to eating, not knowing what to say.

* * *

"Alrighty Mister!" Simon greeted after an hour. "Long time no see! I be teaching you basics, okay? We go to backroom!"

"Uh… yeah!" Izuku said. Simon nodded and led him to a small back room which looked to be some kind of alleyway where they would take out the trash. Izuku was admittedly a little nervous, but the smiling man was just so friendly that it was hard not to like him.

"I be teaching you Sambo and Capoeira first, ya?" Simon said kicking off his sandals.

"Sambo? Capoeira?" Izuku asked. Simon nodded.

"All-Might send you to learn to 'dance', no?" Simon asked. "Sambo my specialty, and Capoeira Brazilian dancing style. I teach you both."

"Okay, what do I do?" Izuku asked. Simon smiled.

"Defend yourself!"

The alley way was soon filled with Izuku's pained screams as the kicks and grapples left him repeatedly on the cardboard Simon had so thoughtfully laid out prior.

"Your form very bad!" Simon said, getting into his rhythm of pain. Izuku barely managed to _block_ a punch, forget dodging. "You must feel the flow of music in your body!"

"What does that even mean?!" Izuku said as he managed to dodge one blow, but the enormous man suddenly did a handstand and gave him a savage and strangely acrobatic kick to the back of the head, tumbling him to the ground.

"Hmm…" Simon said thoughtfully. "I now have good understanding. You cannot fight well at all."

Izuku slowly got up and Simon smiled wistfully. "But you have determination and I can work with that."

Simon then got into a wide stance. "This is basic stance for Capoeira, ya? Wide, like this. You must be on your feet and you must dance."

Izuku got up shakily and imitated him.

"Good! You are very well. Put foot more forward, that is it." Simon said correcting his stance. "In Capoeira you must dance, and must be deceptive. You do that and you know how to fight."

"Wait…" Izuku panted. "I thought I was learning dancing, not fighting."

"Capoeira is both." Simon explained. "Was invented by slaves. Very cunning. They wish to hide their fighting with dance so masters could not make them stop. I teach you, and you teach me."

Slowly, Izuku began to master the steps. It was, in a way, just like a dance, but there was so much deception and misdirection. Like one of the basic kicks was a snap kick from the… rear leg? It was extremely difficult but Izuku could say that he was sure the opponent wouldn't be expecting it. When he asked about it Simon merely replied, "You are small, so you want to catch people off guard, no? Also, Capoeira keep you limber and is fun."

After the lesson Simon gave him his homework.

"Work on the steps I show you every day and then come back next week." Simon smiled. "Then I show you new steps, ya?"

Izuku bowed and left Simon who apparently had another shift coming up. It was the strangest and most culturally inclusive thing he had been a part of.

* * *

Izuku spent nearly all of his free time training or practicing Simon's 'dance' moves. He had showed his mom his workout routine and she was supportive in that way moms are when they think their child is in a weird work out phase. At least she made correct portions and was extremely considerate of his dietary needs. For that much Izuku was grateful.

The boy kept training. Growing stronger and continuously pushing his body to the limit.

He would be sore after one of his 'training days' and nearly fall asleep in class. On his 'off' days he kept up his schoolwork, the moves that Simon was teaching him, and his sanity. But then again Sanity was overrated when you were a Hero.

He was becoming a training maniac. The more he thought about it the more insane his self-training would become. He had even used a grip trainer under his desk at school until one of the teacher's thought he was doing something inappropriate and he was forced to stop. He lifted iron on his 'training days' even after All-Might said he had done enough for the day.

Saturdays, however, were special. He allowed himself one 'truly off' day on Saturdays if he didn't have excess schoolwork or wasn't falling behind on his training. Those days he usually slept till noon and allowed himself to 'study' heroes for his hobby. But even those days he was tempted to train.

Izuku woke up, body sore and totally exhausted, but even then he began his 'training'. He spread the warm feeling in his bones, which had only grown hotter with each passing day of training, across his body and through his skin causing it to bubble slightly here and there, but never piercing it.

He practiced this a few minutes before he finally got out of bed. He had work to do.

* * *

Izuku kept running as All-Might was right there helping him keep pace.

"One, two! One, two!" All-Might said cheerily in the early morning. "My b- er… knees are blue! Three, four! Three, four! I love running and want some more! Five, six! Five, six! Getting fit to pick up chicks! Seven, eight! Seven, eight! Hope they're straight! Er-! Um! Straight minded women! Nine, ten! Nine, ten! Do it all over again!"

Izuku was flagging, his regeneration factor was kicking in but there was too much tiredness in his bones to keep going. Blearily, Izuku nearly fell to his face panting.

**"Hey, hey, hey! What's the matter!?"** All-Might asked catching him just in time, before turning back to normal to save his strength. "You're completely exhausted! Have you been following the plan?"

Izuku nodded. All-Might frowned setting him down and letting him catch his breath.

"You… you've been pushing yourself further haven't you?" All-Might asked. Izuku could only nod as he was struggling to speak. "Idiot… I created that plan to push you as you got stronger! Don't you think I would have taken into account your healing factor? Ugh… Part of being a Hero is knowing where your limits are and if and when you should push them! Just because you _can_ do something doesn't mean you _should_! Go home, and I mean it! No training until your body recovers!"

"But… I have to… catch up…" Izuku said pushing himself up. "I have to… go harder."

"And why is that?" All-Might snapped. "You killing yourself with over training is stupid. Period. It doesn't help you, if fact it does the opposite of what you want it to do and could lead you to some serious injury! Now is not the time to get ahead of yourself!"

Izuku was quiet. He felt ashamed for not trusting All-Might's judgement.

"**Chin up, Young Man!**" All-Might said immediately bulking up and smiling his trademark smile. "**This old man will get you back on track! No need to fear! For now, just go home and rest, I will give you the new training schedule this weekend!"**

Izuku nodded and slowly began to trudge home. He felt pathetic…

* * *

As he walked home, he could still feel his muscles and tendons burning. It sucked… Doing mental calculations in his head, he had put himself behind nearly three weeks just by over training… Instead of gaining time he had jumped the gun and actually set himself back.

It made sense though… All-Might had probably taken into account his minor healing factor and had upped the amount of sleep and food to help offset any negatives his body might impose on itself. The fact of the matter was that his healing factor caused a naturally high metabolism for himself. Even before training, Izuku could eat nothing but Oreos and pop-tarts and never gain a kilo. That's because his body burned so much more fuel than most to keep his healing factor up and running. But it was not an infinite thing.

If Izuku didn't eat enough, or wasn't careful with his sleep, he could actually cause himself negative gains, where his body tried to metabolize some of his muscles to get enough fuel to repair itself. Thankfully, this process, while faster than normal people's, was slow and normally wouldn't cause any problems to his health other than a larger appetite. Izuku had just made the mistake of miscalculating his energy needs and the energy his body would need for the extra training. Basically, he demanded his body go further on an insufficient level of fuel to make his body obey those commands.

He had also sacrificed some sleep in order to get his schoolwork back on track which was why he was so tired all the time. It had made more sense in his head when he had thought of it. Thankfully, he was only three out of the ten months in and…

Izuku slumped. He was too tired, too frustrated, and trying to fight off the self-loathing. He went off track and messed up All-Might's schedule! Izuku wasted the man's time for nothing but his own stupid pride. The boy had wanted to impress his hero by going above and beyond, but now he felt… He had never felt more stupid or useless.

Especially since learning the effects of training! Even if he was totally Quirkless, Izuku would have benefited from training and he should have been doing it the whole time instead of just the last three months or so! How did he miss that!? How could he have been so stupid and-

Izuku nearly bumped into a man. Well, he was more of a giant lobster person. Maybe a crab?

"Argh-argh-argh- argh!" The man said in an odd laugh. "What's this?! Are ya sure you don't wanna run away!?"

Izuku just stared at the man. He was… wearing briefs… and that was it. His lower body was… normal, but the man's upper body was some kind of strange crab/human hybrid. The man smiled a manic sort of grin that told Izuku that the man was completely unhinged. That or the wide, almost black sort of eyes.

_'His pupils are dilated, and he is swaying a bit, not to mention his state of dress… or lack thereof...'_ Izuku observed. _'Some sort of drug?'_

"My name is Crabelante! I ate too much crab and became this!" The man said opening and closing his pincers menacingly. Izuku seriously doubted that statement, but was too tired to care either way. "What'samatter I thought you'd be runnin' away? You should be crapping in your pants right about now. You gotta death wish or sometin'?"

Izuku sighed, "Not exactly… I just found out that I really let someone I admired down, big time. I've spent months of training and planning trying to get better and improve but they were all in vain… So, I don't mean to be rude, but you're far from the scariest person I've seen lately and I'm too tired to really run away from you properly right now... so… What happens now 'Crabelante'?"

The man chuckled oddly as his eyes dilated further and his lips, if you could call them that, moved across rows of straight tombstone like teeth in some kind of rictus grin.

"You're eyes are tired and lifeless, like mine!" Crabelante said still grinning. "Since we have that in common, I'll let you off the hook this time! 'Sides! Right now I'm out hunting different prey!"

"Huh?" Izuku asked.

"Some kid with purple balls on his head decided to draw nipples on me while I was sleeping!" Crabelante said his eyes suddenly focused, becoming bloodshot. "When I find him, I'm going to rip his arms and legs off!"

Izuku frowned. He was too tired to try and take care of this on his own. He decided to let the man leave and call All-Might. He'd be able to handle some kind of jacked up druggie like him. Izuku turned round the corner to be sure he was out of sight and began going through his contacts to find All-Might's number when he was treated to a strange sight.

"What are you looking at?" the kid asked. Izuku froze.

_'A kid with purple balls on his head!'_ Izuku thought. _'If he gets caught he's dead! …How the heck did that Crabelante guy miss him?'_

"Hey kid-" Izuku asked.

"Dude, I'm like, fifteen…" the kid said testily. Izuku felt like he swallowed a lemon. This kid was older than him…

"Sorry." Izuku said, too tired to care at this point. "Were you messing with a big crab guy earlier?"

The kid shrugged. "I found him sleeping on a park bench, and one of my buddies dared me to draw some nipples on the guy's chest since he didn't have any. Also took his pants. It was just a prank bro."

_'It's definitely him.'_ Izuku thought. _'He has no idea what he's done! What do I do? I could still call All-Might but now that might be kinda weird if I call someone and then All-Might just up and comes by! So, does that mean that I call the police instead? But they usually take a few minutes showing up and that drugged out Crabelante guy could be back any second. Oh man-!'_

"Bro, do you always mumble like that?" The kid asked. Izuku however looked up just in time to pale at the sight behind the kid. Crabelante had returned!

"Found you!" the crab monster said as Izuku dived, grabbed the smaller boy ducked out of the way of his wild pincer swings. The man easily destroyed a nearby trashcan and sliced through a telephone pole with his massive pincers.

'_What the _hell _am I doing?!_' Izuku thought as he watched the man destroy a newspaper dispenser in his drug induced fury.

"Kid, I don't care if you're older than me or whatever but he's after you!" Izuku said placing himself between the crab monster and the smaller boy. "Now get out of here! Don't worry about me, just go!"

The purple kid just trembled. "B-but that guy looks nothing like the guy I-"

"Oh for the love of-!" Izuku said getting up. "Get out of here!"

"'Tired eyes'! What gives? Are you protecting this kid?" Crabelante asked.

"What gives? I'll tell you 'what gives'!" Izuku said, his 'give a damn' thoroughly busted by how tired he was, and the sheer amount of adrenaline suddenly injected into his system. "Are you really going to hurt this kid because of some lame prank!? Doesn't that seem kinda harsh?!"

The man chuckled, a dopey yet evil smile graced the man's lips. "So what? I've hurt people for a lot less! Anyone who makes fun of the way I look pays the price! No exceptions! And besides! This little punk drew stupid nipples on my manly shell-chest! And in permanent marker! I have claws! I can't even use a towel to wipe it off!" The man pointed a massive claw in Izuku's face. "Get in my way and I'll help make sure you never feel _tired_ again! You'll be dead! Because I'll have killed ya!"

Izuku didn't know why, but suddenly he began to laugh. It wasn't necessarily a nice laugh. It was tired, kinda angry, and maybe a little demented. But it was _his_ laugh. The first time he laughed in a long, long time. "S-sorry… It just came to me! That line! It's totally what some villain from that old All-Might cartoon would have said!"

"What?! No it isn't! I just came up with that!" Crabelante said, missing the point, and making Izuku laugh a little harder. Getting irritated, Crabelante backhanded Izuku across the chest sending him flying into a nearby fence. The purple kid stood stock still, completely frozen with fear as the villain's silhouette seemed to block the morning sun from view. The boy fell on his butt and tried in vain to scuttle out of range of those pincers, but it was no use. His body seemed to refuse to move.

"**DIE.**" Crabelante said raising a mighty claw.

A piece of fence bounced off of the man's face.

"Hmm?" Crabelante said.

"Stop right there." Izuku said. Both Crabelante and the purple kid turned to see Izuku getting back up, staggering to his feet and taking a wide stance. "I can't let you kill someone right in front of me. That's just messed up…"

The crab man just stared at Izuku giving him a very disturbing 'you have five seconds' face.

"When I was younger I wanted to become a Hero." Izuku said standing tall. "No, not just any Hero! A Hero like All-Might! A Hero who could send villains like you flying with one punch! Who cares if I'm too tired! I can't just sit back and watch this happen! Bring it on Mr. Krabs!"

"Oh! A Hero, huh?!" Crabelante said turning to Izuku. He raised a claw and swung a massive pincer into Izuku's belly. "Pathetic! Useless! You don't stand a chance against me!"

The crab punctuated every word with a savage blow. Izuku was, for lack of a better word, broken. But he kept getting back up.

"Are you done?" Izuku said with a tired smile? "Honestly! I think Kacchan hits harder than you!"

Izuku knew that Crabelante would have no idea who 'Kacchan' was and focus on the 'chan' part. While it was just a fact that Katsuki hit harder than many people, it sounded like 'a girl/someone much younger or even a pet hits harder than you' and had the intended effect of enraging the man.

Izuku's green eyes met the purple kid's black ones. The message was clear from before. 'Run bitch'.

Thankfully the purple kid didn't need telling twice. He booked it out of there fast as Izuku barely dodged another blow aimed for his head. At least he saved someone… Izuku turned to the task at hand and recalled Simon's Sambo training.

* * *

_'Sambo is many arts in one.' Simon explained. 'I learn Sambo in Russia and then learn many parts of Sambo in all countries, picking up new ones as I go to add to my Sambo.'_

_'So you're teaching me mixed martial arts?' Izuku asked._

_'No. I teach you how to make your own martial art.' Simon said. 'I teach you how to dance and you dance how you like. I show you different moves. You keep what you like, and I help you stay well-rounded. I teach you parts of Sambo now.'_

_Each of them took their stances._

_'This move is called Hip Throw.' Simon said. 'Come.'_

_Izuku came at him with a Capoeira style kick, Simon caught it and then Izuku's world turned upside down as he was slammed heavily into the cardboard covered concrete. Izuku got up shakily. This was normal in their bouts._

_'Hip Throw works by using body position and leverage. If you are understanding these principles, you can throw your opponent to the ground. You try!' Simon said throwing punches at half the speed he normally did. Izuku dodged and weaved, staying mobile and moving out of the way like he knew how, and then he saw and opening._

* * *

"Your life ends now!" Crabelante screamed thrusting a claw at Izuku's gut to try and gore him, but instead Izuku angled his body, slid his feet into place and caught the pincer.

"Huh?" Crabelante said intelligently as Izuku reached around, grabbing the man's tighty-whities elastic, placing a foot between the gap of the man's legs and with his entire body-! "Whoa!"

'**_Hip Throw!'_** Izuku thought as he slammed the crab man's body down into the concrete with all of his power and momentum.

The crab man lay there stunned and out of breath. Izuku must have knocked the wind out of him… Izuku then watched as the man slowly deflated like All-Might back down to a normal person with a crab like chest and pincers, but otherwise totally normal. The man seemed out of it; his black tongue lolled out of his mouth uselessly.

Izuku just stood there panting, a fire lit in his eyes, as the police showed up. Apparently they heard the fighting.

Izuku slumped to his knees. He was too tired for this…


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Inner Strength**

* * *

Izuku sat in a prison cell next to the purple kid. Both of them had been detained for questioning. Izuku was looking at charges of 'potential vigilantism in self-defense', and the purple kid, whom Izuku found to be named 'Mineta', was facing charges of aggravation and tomfoolery. Basically anyways…

Apparently Izuku had been right and that guy, Crabelante, was as high as a kite. He had taken some kind of power boosting but mind altering street drug called 'Trigger'. It had been popular for a few years, and was a heavily regulated substance. This was, in part, the only reason they were getting off so lightly.

Normally, Izuku would have gotten in trouble for fighting. Any amount of violence, even in 'self-defense' or defense of another was considered 'Hero Territory' and thus the normal policemen tended to shy away from it, but enforced the rules so 'Vigilantes' didn't run amok. They of course tended to turn a blind eye to those who brought in evil-doers of course, but it was still illegal. What Izuku did stepping in between Mineta and Crabelante was only considered a 'borderline' offense and they only let him go because he was just a kid who 'didn't know any better' and the fact he never used his Quirk except for it's secondary effects.

Crabelante was convicted rather quickly of 'possession of controlled substances' and 'aggravated physical assault and battery of a minor under the influence'. Both of them serious charges and he would be put away for a long while and hopefully getting some help for his drug addiction.

In a similar vein to Izuku, Mineta was sent away with a slap on the wrist for 'dumb kid stuff' and sent home.

This was all fine and good, but it didn't help the situation Izuku was put in when his mother came to pick him up at the station.

Inko Midoriya was a fussy kind of mother. She wanted to make sure her baby was okay and then she would begin asking pointed questions that made even the brief Japanese police interrogation seem like a walk in the park.

"What were you doing starting fights? Did I not raise you right? You told me that you were out for a run! Now I get a call from the police station saying that they have my son in custody!" Inko berated gently. Only his mother could do that. It wasn't that her questions weren't piercing, just she did it with so much care and worry that Izuku could only hang his head and hope that his explanations could help.

"Mom, I told you…" Izuku sighed sitting on their sofa, hands running through green hair. "I saw a dangerous guy, and was about to call the police but he found the kid before I had the chance to call!"

"Why didn't you call immediately!?" Inko countered as she continued to pace back and forth in front of him. "Why didn't you- You look exhausted honey! I know you've been in this weird workout phase for the last few months trying to be a Hero-"

"It's not a phase Mom…" Izuku groaned.

"- but this is getting a bit worrisome!" Inko continued. "What if you had gotten hurt? I know you have a healing factor and that really strong skeleton sweetie but there are some wounds you can't just heal from right away and it makes me really worried when you do that-"

"I'm sorry, Mom…" Izuku said under his breath as she continued her rant. He was still rather close to his mom, she was basically his only real friend, but this was getting ridiculous.

"-and I think it's really irresponsible for you to be going out alone all the way to Ikebukuro! What are you doing out in the middle of the entertainment district honey? Is it drugs? Are you-" Inko continued.

"Would you believe me if I said I wrestle large black Russian man in a back alley for dance lessons?" Izuku asked. His mother just stared at him. "Mom, joking…"

'_Kinda…_' Izuku thought to himself.

"All I'm saying is you're keeping something from me, and it is ruining-" Inko continued to fret.

"Ruining what Mom?" Izuku asked as gently but as firmly as he could. "Mom, if you really want to know, I have been training to get into UA. I found a personal trainer willing to help me get into shape, and I found a guy- who lives in Ikebukuro by the way- who is willing to teach me martial arts."

"Sweetie…" Inko said softly. "I know you want to become a Hero but-"

"But what?" Izuku challenged again sitting up. Green eyes met green. "Mom, I nearly died, like three times in the last three months. The first time, I was attacked by some villain. You know that Slime Villain that attacked that one middle school student? It was someone from my class! And before him it was me! I got jumped in the underpass just walking home! I nearly died and if it hadn't had been for All-Might coming in last second to save me, I'd be dead as a doornail!"

His mother was silent during her son's mini rant.

"Then I saw that same villain attack someone I knew, and I jumped in!" Izuku said running his fingers through his hair. "My legs moved on their own and I was suddenly in the thick of it and holding my own Mom…" Izuku made a small disbelieving noise. "I thought I was toast, but I felt… invigorated. I've wanted to become a Hero for so long Mom… I got a taste for it, so I began training. I've been training my brains out because I know I don't really stand a chance. I was a late bloomer and I barely have any practice with my Quirk so… I decided to train in the things I can do and prepare myself to-"

His mom hugged him. Izuku hesitantly hugged back. He could feel warm moistness dripping onto his clean shirt.

"Son…" Inko wept. "I know it's your dream, but it's so dangerous baby… You could have died today and just the thought of that is…"

Izuku felt tears come to his eyes as well. "But it's my dream… I want to become a Hero mom. My Quirk is basically useless for anything else. I can handle damage that would normally break people. I'll be okay mom… That's why I'm learning how to be strong. So I can protect people. Is it really so hard to imagine?"

Inko released him and stared into his eyes. Finally she shook her head.

"No. It's not." Inko said finally. "You have a lot of potential son. I just wish that you'd choose to be safe…"

"It's the path I've chosen." Izuku said with determination. "I'm going to become one of the greatest Heroes to ever live. I promise I'll do you proud."

For some reason, right then, Inko believed him despite her wishes not to.

* * *

Mineta stared at the ceiling of his room where there was a poster of Mt. Lady's swimsuit centerfold pinned to the plaster.

'_I nearly died today.'_ Mineta thought. _'I nearly died, and I only survived because some kid decided to stand in the way. Decided to be a Hero…'_

Mineta was not as dumb as he looked. His Pop-Off Quirk was cool, but it would have been no match for a roided out crab monster. He had never been more scared in his entire life…

Mineta decided something right then and there. He was going to clean up his act, stop the dumb pranks and maybe even reign in his pervert-ness back a bit. The purple haired boy sighed. Maybe, just maybe… there might be more to life than having cute girls fawn over you…

If that scrawny weakling could be a Hero, why couldn't he?

* * *

Izuku met Simon in the back alley where he found the man standing with crossed arms.

"Hello mister. Long time no see." Simon said sounding disappointed even in greeting. "I hear you got into fight since last time."

Izuku looked down but nodded.

"You win?" Simon asked. Izuku looked up and nodded again. Simon smiled. "Good to hear. Fighting is always bad but winning is good. I teach you now. Come."

And so the lesson begun. Simon came at him with a new stance. Izuku watched and learned mid-fight in his established pattern watching Simon as he got in close and- Izuku took a savage elbow to the chin. This was followed up with a similarly savage knee to the stomach before being punched back flat on his butt.

"What… was that?" Izuku asked as Simon helped him back up.

"I teach you new move now. If you are going to be winning you need to know how to use Muy Thai and Krav Maga next." Simon explained.

"Muy Thai? Krav Maga?" Izuku asked as he tried to replicate the moves he learned against Simon this time. Simon nodded.

"Muy Thai is powerful art. It is also known as Science of Eight Limbs." Simon said. "In most martial art, the use of knees and elbows is forbidden, but Muy Thai incorporates them into unique style."

"Why don't they use the knees and elbows?" Izuku asked in surprise. "Aren't those like the hardest parts of the body?"

"Because if you use them wrong, you kill your opponent." Simon said seriously as Izuku threw an elbow at him. Izuku flinched back, horrified at the movement Simon was teaching him.

"Then why are we practicing using knees and elbows!?" Izuku asked incredulously.

"Because if you use them right, you can kill your opponent!" Simon said with the first hint of malicious glee Izuku had sensed since beginning lessons from him. "Martial art means Art of War, no? It is important that you learn, so you can use all your limbs to protect and defeat your opponent."

Izuku stared at Simons knees and elbows. There were thin white scars littering his dark skin in those areas.

'_He built up callouses…_' Izuku thought. _'If he really wanted to, Simon could almost certainly just kill me with an elbow strike…'_

Not for the first time, Izuku wondered what Simon's life was before he became a sushi chef…

"And Krav Maga?" Izuku asked. "I think I've heard of that... Wait- that's the style the Hero Road Rage, who rose up after All-Might left America uses!"

"Very good!" Simon said, sounding pleased. "Krav Maga was created by Israeli Martial Artist. He brought most practical skills from several martial art and make them unified. It is very good style if trained correctly, and can be trained very fast."

"So what are we learning from Krav Maga?" Izuku asked. Simon smiled widely.

"Now you are thinking Russian!" Simon said still grinning and messed with Izuku's hair. "We learn how to use 'aggression'. It means that you are willing to fight. Very important in Krav Maga. It teaches how to use your instinct and directing it to attacks and counter-attacks that are brutal and make sure your opponent stay down."

Izuku winced at the thought. "That sounds... pretty violent..."

"You are forcing your opponent to submit, or you are making sure he cannot hurt you or people you love." Simon said crossing his arms. "That is Martial Art. Martial art means 'Art of War'. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to become strong in body and protect those you care about."

Izuku thought of that Crablante guy that nearly killed him and the person Izuku was trying to protect, and made his decision.

With that Izuku was introduced to Krav Maga's submission holds and Muy Thai's unique emphasis on knee and elbow strikes.

* * *

Nearly a week went by and Izuku was getting antsy. Besides practicing his 'dance' moves, Izuku had forced himself to stop training nearly altogether and letting his body rest. Izuku felt like he was going insane. He had gotten done with not only all his homework but his whole body seemed to strangely ache for the painful comfort of exercise. By the time he got to the beach to meet up with All-Might again Izuku was jittery with excitement.

**"Hello there, Young Man!"** All-Might greeted as Izuku got to the spot he had gotten to cleaning the beach. **"We are going to be doing something different today!"**

Izuku looked at the pile of trash and then back to All-Might, confusion reigning supreme. "But… trash?"

**"Now, now! I am glad to see you haven't given up, but I thought we could discuss your progress."** All-Might said. Izuku nodded, ready for a tongue lashing. **"I want you to know that you are doing splendidly."**

Izuku's head shot up, eyes wide.

"**You're commitment to this, despite not knowing what each and every part of your training does, is inspiring."** All-Might said smiling at him. Well, he was always smiling but- **"You worked so incredibly hard, even going above and beyond what I asked of you. I feel like I was a little harsh on you before and I just wanted to say that you are still worthy of my power."**

Izuku's eyes watered as he felt an overwhelming sense of honor, relief, and encouragement build up and explode in his heart. He was crying freely.

**"So, I thought to help you understand more of your training and my plan for you so you wouldn't feel the need to jump the gun and let you know where you truly stand on the path to being a champion of the people!"** All-Might said striking a pose. "**What do you understand of your training so far?"**

Izuku thought about it.

"Um… You've been working on building up my connective tissue and muscular strength." Izuku said glancing at the pile of trash behind All-Might. "You've also been sending me to Simon to learn to fight I suppose. Oh! I've also been putting some self-study into Hero work basics, and trying to keep my grades up!"

All-Might nodded. **"Good! But there is more that you need to understand. What exactly has Simon been teaching you?"**

"Er… lately he's been having me learn how to do Muy Thai, Krav Maga, a little bit of Sambo, and Capoeira which was a little weird to be honest, but it has some stellar kicks." Izuku said counting off the styles he had been learning. All-Might nodded along.

**"And did he ask you to practice any special exercises other than just technique?"** All-Might asked. Izuku frowned bringing a hand to his mouth in thought.

"Now that you mention it…" Izuku said. "He also never holds back unless he is trying to teach me the correct movements or make an opening for me either…"

All-Might sweat-dropped at this news. **"Sounds like Simon is still Simon… Anyways! The reason his is focusing on getting you to learn technique is because unlike most students of martial arts you are already half-trained."**

"Half-trained?" Izuku asked.

**"Normally, one would spend years in martial arts just training their bodies to be able to withstand the pressures of their art. In Muy Thai in particular there is an emphasis placed on training the shin."** All-Might explained. **"They would kick down banana trees to be able make their shins as harder than baseball bats!"**

Izuku was finally catching on. "So you mean… Simon is taking advantage of the fact that I heal quick and have a strong skeleton?!"

**"Indeed!"** All-Might said. Izuku wilted at bit at this information. **"Combined with training up your muscular strength, endurance, and pain tolerance on my end you should be able to withstand just about anything, even my power!"**

Izuku's eyes shone with appreciation. "You've really been thinking of me…"

**"Young Midoriya, I did not choose you to inherit my power because of the potential your body has, but because you had the right kind of heart."** All-Might said tapping him in the chest and smiling. **"You are the kind of person who strives to be a true Hero. Someone who wishes to protect the weak because you've been in their shoes. You fight because you care what happens, and you are humble enough to accept guidance. This alone would have made me choose you, but your other abilities are nothing to sneeze at!"**

Izuku felt some gusto get back into him. "Thank you All-Might, I don't know what I could ever do to repay you!"

**"Just be the best Hero you can be! That's all I ask. And kid, you already one in my eyes okay?"** All-Might said. Izuku wept.

"Sir!" Izuku said. "Is it time to clean up?"

All-Might grinned. **"It's always time to clean up! And this time, put your back to it!"**

"Alright!" Izuku said taking a literal run at the trash pile and picking up a microwave to load into the truck.

He wasn't going to let All-Might down again!

* * *

All-Might watched as the boy tried to commit seppuku by weightlifting. He was glad to see some spirit come to the boy's eyes. He truly had a lot of heart.

The Symbol of Peace would never tell the boy that he had gone to Simon to ask how he was doing, got information on Muy Thai through the man's broken Japanese, purchased a book titled: 'How to be a truly inspirational teacher! For complete idiots!', and literally made up most of the training stuff on the spot. All-Might had just thought that the training would build his muscles to use One-For-All and saw somewhere online that doing martial arts built confidence. A quick referral from one of his friends in the Hero Association led him to Simon and the rest was history.

Was it wrong to make up stuff and pass it off as truth if it was technically true? All-Might really did believe the boy could do it, and All-Might knew his stuff when it came to bodybuilding and strength training, just the supporting reasons were a tad made-up-on-the-spot level white lies…

All-Might coughed into his hand in embarrassment as the boy ran past with a washing machine on his back. Yeah… he felt a bit bad for tricking the boy but…

What the boy didn't know wouldn't hurt him…


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Passing the Torch**

* * *

_February 26th…_

_6:00 am…_

All-Might walked to the beach in his Skele-Might form. The boy had come a long way in the last few months, but today was the day of the entrance exam and while two days ago the boy hadn't finished clearing the beach as planned, he was more than ready to inherit One-For-All.

Young Midoriya's work ethic was inspiring to say the least. Even in his weakened state, the Symbol of Peace had felt invigorated just being around the boy. He almost felt like a young man again, not an older man past his prime… Truly, Young Midoriya was going to go far with that kind of presence.

All-Might sighed and continued walking, reaching the parking lot adjacent to the beach where they parked the truck. It was a good thing that he had gotten a parking permit for it. Lately, the parts of the beach that Midoriya had cleared had become popular once again. All-Might banished thoughts of nimble young bodies in bikinis for the time being and went to see how his protégé was doing-

His protégé screamed into the morning sun.

Izuku was dripping with sweat, snot and tears. His body rippling with hard earned muscles, and his head flung back as he roared, greeting the morning with his victorious cries.

What was more alarming to All-Might however was what he was standing on. A literal mountain of trash.

"He… He did it…" All-Might breathed as he scanned the beach. "Hell, he even cleaned outside the parts I told him to! I can't even see a speck of trash here! Oh my…**Oh My Goodness!**"

All-Might changed into his muscle form just in time to catch Young Midoriya as he fell from his mountain of victory. Roaring into the morning sun, huh? All-Might was grinning like a fool. This kid…

**"Good work!"** All-Might said. Izuku gave him a weary smile. How long had the boy been up? **"You certainly are surprising! You managed to get all of this done in the nick of time!"**

All-Might set the boy down and when he could stand rightly on his feet, All-Might pulled out his phone. "This is you, ten months ago. See how far you've come."

Izuku stared at the screen, or rather the picture displayed. There stood a green haired boy crying a bit after All-Might said something that might've come across as a little mean.

The young man who that boy grew into was still a little dazed by how much he had grown. Was he really so… small before? Thinking about how far he had come, months of hard training had really payed off…

His body looked like it was chiseled from rock. He actually had abs now, and pecs… and biceps… Izuku had all the muscles. They were dense too! Each of his muscles weren't 'poofy' or just big, but looked like corded iron. He was sturdy alright! Which led them to find out rather spectacularly Izuku's single greatest weakness!

Izuku Midoriya, perhaps the most perfect inheritor of One-For-All since All-Might himself…

Izuku Midoriya, the chosen successor to the Symbol of Peace …can't swim to save his life…

Like, not even a little…

They had both found this out when All-Might had been distracted. The hulking hero figured the boy knew how to swim and that if he didn't then the number one Pro-Hero in Japan was right there to catch him, but he had been distracted by some really _fit_ young bodies when he noticed Midoriya was nowhere to be seen. Needless to say, it was one of All-Might's most embarrassing moments…

Izuku nearly drowned because he was too interested in girls in bikini's. They found out later that his bones were roughly thirty times more dense than a normal person's and as heavy as if they were made out of metal. That and his muscles were especially dense due to that and his body all 'round just couldn't float-

Well, you get the picture…

So, Izuku had a major weakness, nothing too big either. Just he was basically land locked and if he wanted to operate underwater he would probably need some kind of light weight re-breather to go with his costume…

All-Might looked at the child he had chosen to become his successor and was not blind to the boy's faults. He was a bit naïve still, still had some severe confidence issues, and still had a fanboy streak a mile wide.

Honestly, All-Might wasn't sure if the boy would end up fighting villains, or trying to get their autograph some days the way he talked about how cool they were and how awesome it would be if they became Heroes.

More importantly, looking past the boy's weaknesses and flaws, All-Might could still see that heart and grit he saw all those months ago. Training with the Number One Pro Hero hadn't inflated his ego, nor had his determination wavered. Truly…

**"As I said before,"** All-Might proclaimed. **"you truly are worthy of my power! The mirage of the Hero you can become might be far off but from what I can see, it's magnificent!"**

"I can barely believe it…" Izuku said trembling and looking on the verge of tears, though that could just be from the sweat going into his eyes- no wait, his face looked like it was overcome with emotion, never mind- "It feels like I cheated somehow… I mean… You put so much time and effort into this, into _me_… What did I do to possible deserve this? What could I ever do to repay your kindness? Do I really deserve this? Are you sure?"

_'Still with the self-depreciation…'_ All-Might thought.

**"Young man, it was your hard work, not mine!"** All-Might said, clapping the young man on the shoulder. Then he looked the boy right in the eyes like his teaching manual said. **"Yes. You are worthy of my power. You qualified and… I'm proud of you young man for making it thus far, so chin up!"**

All-Might plucked a hair from his head.

**"Now for your reward, Izuku Midoriya. Someone told me this once,"** All-Might said, pulling from some sage wisdom from his own teacher for good measure. **"'There is a difference between being lucky and being deserving. One is an action and the other is a reward. Never get the two confused.' Take this to heart, young man. This gift, you earned it with your own valiant efforts.**"

There it was. That determination. That fire. It was in the boy's eyes right then. He would do the legacy he would carry proud.

**"Now, eat this!"** All-Might said holding up the long golden hair, plucked straight from his own head.

…

"Wha-?" Izuku sputtered, beginning to sweat anew. His mind whirled trying to understand what All-Might was asking him. So, All-Might conveniently explained.

**"To inherit my power you gotta swallow some of my DNA! That's just how it works!"** All-Might said getting a little embarrassed himself.

"This isn't exactly how I imagined it!" Izuku said.

**"Come on! You gotta do it now or you'll be late for the exam!"** All-Might said. **"Now, eat! Eat! EAT!"**

Once more that morning, Izuku's warbly pre-pubescent sounding cries were heard across the beach as he forced himself to eat the hair and inherited the future.

* * *

_That same day…_

_8:40 am…_

Izuku panted a bit, his heart pounding as he rushed off of the bus and basically ran two blocks to get to the entrance exam on time. After his… _ordeal_ with the hair, Izuku had gone home and showered, his mom was awake to send him off to the exam and they had a cry-fest together for a moment before Izuku realized he was going to be late.

So he rushed out the door with his mom's blessing and a piece of toast because he hadn't had anything to eat really except All-Might hair... He was nauseous just thinking about it…

"I made it…" Izuku panted. "Just in time! What kind of monster makes the meeting time eight forty-five instead of just at nine?!"

He had been sure that it had been at nine rather than eight forty-five until his mom re-read the instructions while he was making breakfast. It was a good thing too otherwise he would have been fifteen minutes late to the exam instead of five minutes early. It was nearly an hour commute to UA from his home and- well, given the time constraints he barely had any time to test out his new Quirk…

"I may have eaten the hair, but I don't feel too different…" Izuku muttered.

"Deku!" someone- okay that was a lie, Izuku knew exactly who it was…

Izuku jumped hearing Katsuki's voice. '_Wait, why's he wearing a scarf? It isn't that cold outside…_'

"Get the hell out of my way or I'll blow you to smithereens!" Katsuki barked, walking past the shorter boy like he wasn't worth the time of day.

"Oh hey Kacchan! Um- nice day! Let's both do our best at the… exam…" Izuku faltered and stumbled over his words. Katsuki kept walking.

"Look at that kid, does he think he's something special?" One said watching as Katsuki just walked past.

"Yeah, who does he think he is?!" Another said.

Izuku just watched Katsuki's back for a minute frowning. Ever since that day, Katsuki had been taking it easier on him. He was still his angry, arrogant, aggressive self, but he had also mellowed out… a little bit anyway…

He didn't just up and pick fights or actively bully Izuku anymore. He just was a passive dick to everyone. In some ways, that was worse. Like, Izuku wasn't even worth the time of day to say 'hi' to, but the shorter boy wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If Katsuki was going to lay off of him for a while, who was he to complain?

'_I guess I was just scared of him out of habit...'_ Izuku thought. He shook those thoughts out of his head. _'But I'm not just a punching bag anymore! Yeah! I have to remember how far I've come! All-Might said he was proud of me! Thanks to him, I'm actually going to be a Hero!'_

Izuku tripped over his own feet.

'_Or I'll just die-"_ Izuku thought as he saw the rapidly approaching cement. While he had a healing factor, and a nearly indestructible skeleton, Izuku was not immune to blunt force trauma to the head as Simon repeatedly showed him. Only using cardboard mats on pavement while learning judo throws were a very good way to make sure Izuku learned 'don't get grabbed'! Izuku was lucky his healing factor helped keep him from getting brain damage from a concussion… probably…

"Wait- wha?" Izuku muttered incoherently as he realized. "Okay… now I'm floating… odd…"

A giggle. Izuku turned quickly and caught a brief glimpse of a brown haired girl, making his brain short circuit a little bit. Because of the way he had been falling however, when gravity had decided to just turn off, Izuku had begun to spin…

No… That wasn't the right word… Orbit maybe? Anyways, he began to twist slowly, hovering in place. It kinda felt like he was underwater but wasn't sinking… It was a bit of a surreal experience…

"Are you okay?" the girl asked. "Oh! You're getting all spun around and stuff! Lemme help ya out!"

The girl caught him by the backpack and held him in place right side up before pressing the pads on all her fingers together in a motion that looked a little like she was praying or saying sorry. Suddenly, gravity returned and Izuku felt the full weight of his skeleton once again. Everything was kinda heavy…

Izuku looked at the girl to get a better look and felt heat rise up his neck. She was freaking cute… Izuku was immediately captivated by her soft brown eyes. He could get lost in those eyes…

"I stopped you with my Quirk!" The girl said smiling, not noticing Izuku's staring. "Sorry I didn't ask first, but I figured you wouldn't mind me catching you!"

Izuku could only stare slightly opened mouthed. A girl was talking to him… All the girls in his class just ignored him or thought he was creepy because of his Quirk… Needless to say, Izuku's brain was totally fried.

'_Girl talking to Izuku Midoriya… Does Not Compute!'_ Izuku's brain went. _'Error! Error! Refresh from start!'_

"Jeez this is totally like, way nerve wracking?" the girl babbled not noticing the sheer befuddlement she caused in the poor boy.

"I-I… Um… I…" Izuku stuttered as his brain tried to restart. The intercom toned letting the potential students know that the meeting was starting.

"Oh! Looks like we gotta go inside! See ya later!" The girl said, _smiling_ at him… which proceeded to fry his brain even more.

Then she left.

Heat rose in his face again. He wouldn't be surprised to see steam coming out of his ears. He honestly didn't know what to say…

"S-see you later as well…" Izuku muttered to himself as he climbed up the stairs to get to the exam. She was long gone.

* * *

Following the signs that said 'Hero Course Exam Orientation' Izuku finally made it to a large auditorium where the rest of the hero-potentials, well more like hero-_potential_-potentials, filled in and took their seats. Izuku found his spot and sat down, still jittery with nerves and from the fact he had talked with a nice girl outside, just as the stage lights came on and the big screen behind the podium lit up with the 'UA' logo.

A guitar riff filled the auditorium as a familiar figure rose from the center of the stage. Izuku recognized that sound!

"What is up UA candidates! Put your hands together for you school DJ!" A familiar voice said erupting from the podium. Silence followed from the sheer surprise and volume. "Tough crowd? Well, how 'bout I just skip to the main show? Lemme tell ya how this school practical exam is going to go down! ARE YOU READY!?"

Silence.

"No way! It's Present Mic! I listen to his radio show every week!" Izuku fanboyed, practically sparkling with enthusiasm. Present Mic's radio show was one of the premier shows on all things Hero! His podcasts and live net shows were listened to by most of the country! "So cool!"

"Bro…" a voice said next to him. Izuku turned.

"Mineta? What are you doing here?!" Izuku asked.

The boy frowned. "Trying to get into UA like you. Can you keep the fanboying down? I wanna listen."

"Oh! Sorry!" Izuku said returning to Present Mic's presentation.

"Just like your application said, you will be doing a combat exam in an urban setting so you can show us your moves and get jiggy with it!" Present Mic said as the overhead monitor reflected his words. Clearly, he was a master presentation giver! "You will be sent to the training ground marked on the first letter of your application number! Sound good?!"

More silence. Present Mic didn't give up though.

Izuku dug out his application card and checked the number. Center B.

"Looks like they are trying to split us up so we can't work with any of our friends." Mineta muttered. He turned. "I got C, whatchu got?"

"Er… B." Izuku said.

"Dammit…" Mineta muttered again.

Izuku frowned thinking of the implications. What if he was in the same testing center as Katsuki? He could just imagine trying to compete against him. Also if Izuku was there, Katsuki might go ballistic trying to make sure Izuku was totally out done…

The green haired boy gulped.

"Now, your goal is to defeat these three times of robotic enemies we've cooked up for ya!" Present Mic said with a flourish. "For each one you destroy you gain points! Each one is worth more or less points depending on their difficulty, so choose which one you fight wisely! Simple right? Just think of it like a big, life sized video game! Also it is UA policy that anyone attacking a fellow examinee will probably get disqualified! You dig?!"

"Excuse me, I have a question!" one student said standing up and catching everyone's attention.

"Yeah! You there, go right on ahead!" Present Mic said. A spotlight was shown on a tall boy with glasses. He didn't appear phased by the sudden attention at all.

"On the printout you listed four types of villains, not three. With all due respect if this is a typo or some other kind of error on UA materials it is shameful. We are exemplary students; we expect the best from the best Hero school in the country and mistakes such as this won't do!" The boy said with the kind of authoritative voice that spoke of being raised to expect nothing but the absolute best in life. "And you two! The two with the strange hair!"

"Eh!?" both Izuku and Mineta went as the attention was suddenly turned to them.

"Both of you have been talking the entire time! Stop that! If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You are disrupting the rest of us." The boy said in a cold authoritative tone that made Izuku want to shrink.

"Sorry!" Izuku squeaked as the rest of the auditorium snickered at them. Izuku wanted to die in a hole from the sheer embarrassment.

"Dude. Called out… Why did he have to be such a prick?" Mineta muttered.

"Thanks for calling in with your request!" Present Mic said trying to get ahold of the auditorium once more. "To answer your question that one isn't really worth mentioning. It is worth zero points and is more of an obstacle we threw in there to keep you on your toes. There's one in every battle center. It's not that it can't be beaten, it's just that there's really no point. Just think of it as an obstacle to avoid and get as many points as you can and get all the other ones on the chart!"

The boy in glasses bowed low. "Thank you very much for answering my question. Please continue."

"Oh I get it… It's kinda like a trap in a video game." Mineta said. Izuku smiled.

"The whole thing is kinda like a big video game…" Izuku said looking back to the screen.

"I'll be Mario and you be Luigi!" Mineta said jabbing his thumb at his chest. Izuku chuckled.

"Before I send you off to fight, lemme just give you a sample of our school motto!" Present Mic said. "Like Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte the first once laid down, 'A true Hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes'! Now isn't that a tasty soundbite! Lemme hear ya say Plus ULTRA!"

Silence reigned in the auditorium.

"Good Luck!" Present Mic said before peace-ing out.

Izuku looked at the paper again. He had to destroy as many robots as he could!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: CRASH**

* * *

_UA Highschool Hero Course…_

_Entrance Exam, Battle Center B…_

Izuku stood before the massive gates. He knew UA was big and one of the best schools in the country for training Heroes, but this was ridiculous… Before him stood what looked to be an entire small downtown area of a big city. Several city blocks that just randomly transported to the middle of nowhere. Izuku and the rest of the students had to ride a school bus for ten minutes to get there and it became clear that this exam was beyond what Izuku had originally thought.

Izuku was… nervous. Actually, to be more accurate, his knees were knocking together, his body trembling and he felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack not knowing if he was going to laugh, cry, wet himself. The expectation was killing him. He was a Hero now, right? He was strong, he had been training with All-Might for months! Oh gosh, what if he let down All-Might? How was he going to face his Hero, the one who believed in him and spent so much time and effort training him to become his successor, if he blew it?

What if he wasn't strong enough? What if he choked? What if-

A hand clamped on Izuku's shoulder. Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin.

"You look nervous and your muttering is disruptive." The tall boy with glasses said.

_'He's here too?!'_ Izuku thought.

"S-sorry…" Izuku said. The other boy accepted his apology.

"All of us here doing our best. Even if they look confident most of them are apprehensive about what is to come, so it is not out of the ordinary to feel a little insecure about your abilities at a time like this." The boy said, his authoritative tone somehow comforting. "Just remember that 'a Hero is one that overcomes life's misfortunes'. If we are to represent the next generation of Heroes we need to put out best foot forward and believe in ourselves."

Izuku was pretty sure later on, that the tall boy in glasses was just trying to reassure himself as well as Izuku, but at that moment he remembered his dream.

_'I want to be a confident Hero who will put a smile on people's face…'_ Izuku thought. He took a deep breath and… relaxed.

He cracked his neck causing a cascade of sickening pops. Rolling his shoulders caused another round of pops and cracks. Finally, the tension left and Izuku felt better.

"Thanks." Izuku said to the boy. The tall boy smiled.

"Any time." The boy said. "By the way, you shouldn't do that. It's bad for your bones…"

Izuku chuckled and focused just in time to hear Present Mic shouting from an observation tower.

"Right! Let's get moving!" Present Mic said, his normal volume easily being able to reach the ears of the Hero Course Applicants despite being so far away. "There are no countdowns in real battles! You're wasting your time!"

Izuku turned and was surprised to find the massive doors had opened and everyone was already ahead of him.

"No way! I'm already behind!" Izuku yelped as he ran towards the entrance to fight some Villain robots.

And thus the test had begun.

* * *

_'This is fine! I have plenty of time! I can catch up!_' Izuku thought to himself as he ran behind a literal pack of kids who were all stronger and better versed with their quirks and- _'I can't think about that stuff! What did All-Might say? Something, something, One-For-All has a nasty backlash so don't use it unless you need to save someone- Oh! Clench your buttcheeks and yell from the bottom of your heart-!_'

_SMASH!_

Izuku skidded to a halt as a Villian-bot burst from the wall and landed right in front of him. Izuku coughed as concrete dust filled his lungs. The Villain-bot was a deep green color, with red eyes, and spidery appendages. Those red eyes glowed and seemed to focus on him. A two-pointer!

"Target acquired." A robotic voice sounded from the machine as it's wheel spun out beginning to charge him.

Izuku acted on instinct.

Izuku planted his feet, and did a Capoeira cartwheel style kick knocking it off balance. The robot skidded on it's wheel and slammed into a wall, Izuku's blow having redirected it's charge. Izuku followed up by growing bones out of his lower palms and piercing the robot with the heavily re-enforced bone. The robot sputtered and the eyes went dull. Izuku stabbed it center of mass for good measure.

'_If you kill something, always double-tap and make sure it is dead.'_ Simon had taught him in one of Izuku's darker lessons.

"Holy cow… I just pierced metal!" Izuku said panting. His bones dripped with blood. There were scratches on his bones from where the metal scraped along the bone, leaving a calcium-like smell. "And ow… that still really hurts!"

But the pain was manageable, especially with the bones already out. It would be difficult to pick things up with them extended, but it should do well to attack with! Izuku had to retract the bones till they were just barely out of his palms before running. The warm bone felt weird beneath his fingers in his clenched fist. At least the blood was beginning to clot some.

Izuku ran down an alleyway as a shortcut and found a whole bunch of students fighting a horde of robots. The nice girl he had met at the front gate was using her Quirk to levitate the robots high in the air before letting them fall, crushed by their own weight. The tall boy had- wait were those rocket engines on his legs?! He just punted a robot like a soccer ball!

Izuku jumped in, being careful to avoid the falling robots and dodging someone's navel laser? It was sheer pandemonium and Izuku was worried he was falling behind.

"Okay, that makes thirty two!" The nice girl said.

"I should be at precisely fifty with this one!" the tall boy said.

Izuku grit his teeth. He refused to let All-Might's time and effort into him go to waste. His bones erupted from his palms once again and burst from his elbows as he rammed the re-enforced bone into a three-pointer's head. He kept stabbing until it was dead then moved onto the next, aiming for another three pointer as they were usually the last ones left.

Another three-pointer was destroyed by a sharp palm thrust to the battery, and another two pointer he knocked of balance with a Muy Thai elbow strike, followed by another stab through the eye, but he was running into a problem.

All the rest of the robots were being taken out by other people!

Some of them were even running out into alleyways trying to find any stragglers. Izuku retracted his bones running to try and find more robots to fight, his heart hammering in his chest as he desperately searched for robots to fight. Eventually he found another three pointer, but it was taken out by the tall boy before he even reached it.

"Sorry! But I won't be left behind!" The tall boy said before running off. Izuku was getting irritated.

"I only have seven points! You have fifty some odd!" Izuku growled to himself as he ran to find the next target.

* * *

_In a special observatory…_

"It appears that the student-hopefuls have no idea how many enemies there are or where they are located. They have a limited time, must cover a large area, and must get every last one." Nedzu the principal of UA said in a thoughtful voice. "Some are using information gathering to find ones others might have missed, others rely on speed to get to targets faster. While it is always good to remain calm under pressure others rely on pure combat ability. The most successful students use a combination of all these tactics. They're the ones who wrack up the highest score."

"Looks like there is some with good potential this year." Midnight said, her voice frank, lacking it's usual seductive overtones.

"I still think it is too early to tell." Vlad King said. "Some of them will only show their true potential when the going gets tough."

"Fair enough." Nedzu allowed. "Powerloader, are the things I asked you to prepare ready?"

"_Hell yes_." Powerloader said with a near maniacal grin.

"Then at your leave." Nedzu said. In the back of the room they heard Eraserhead sigh.

"Let's see how they do again this!" Powerloader pressed a big red button.

They were his favorite kind.

* * *

The earth shook and trembled as clouds of dust rose into the air.

Windows shattered as enormous tracks rolled past, the vibrations from this titan's movements were enough to break them.

Izuku could only look up in horror as the gigantic Zero-Pointer peered down at them from above the tops of the buildings. Izuku fell back onto his butt as several people ran past him to get out of the way of this juggernaut.

_'It is worth zero points and is more of an obstacle we threw in there to keep you on your toes.'_ Present Mic said. _'There's one in every battle center. It's not that it can't be beaten, it's just that there's really no point. Just think of it as an obstacle to avoid and get as many points as you can and get all the other ones on the chart!'_

The gargantuan robot slammed it's fist into the ground picking up debris and sending dust everywhere. People were screaming and running away. Izuku was terrified, scared for his life even.

'_That's the Zero-Pointer?! Isn't that a bit much to be just an obstacle?!'_ Izuku thought desperately trying to get up and just run _away_. _'I need to get away and find smaller robots! I only have seven points!'_

"Less than two minutes remain!" Present Mic called out. Izuku flinched.

"Only two minutes left!?" Izuku said, trying to control his breathing. He was hyperventilating. He was scared. This wasn't what he signed up for! He was going-

Then he heard it.

A small cry. He turned.

The nice girl, the one who kept him from falling at the front gate was trapped under some rubble. She was right in front of the robot's tracks. If she didn't get out of there in time she would be completely crushed. She looked scared.

And just like that, Izuku was running. His mind began to whirl thinking up ways to take down the robot.

_'I have to stop it somehow!'_ Izuku thought. Then it hit him. _'My bones!'_

Izuku ran right up to the track and planted his feet, bracing himself and then… he charged.

Bones grew out of his body randomly as he drew on as much of the warmth coursing through his bones as he could. He roared in pain as bones burst from his flesh, tearing him to shreds and then a new warmth entered him. One that felt less like fire in his bones and more like liquid lightning.

Then, he tackled the giant robot.

He felt pain course through his right leg as he launched himself at the track that was about to hit the nice girl and slammed himself against it. When he was about to be crushed by the weight of steel raining down on him he placed his other leg and shoved himself deeper into the tracks.

It hurt like hell. There was so much weight and his legs were on fire. One leg was definitely broken, and it felt like his face was being ground off as one side pressed against the track. Izuku was being crushed!

With a strangled roar, Izuku felt lightning channel through his good leg, his broken leg bearing all the weight for a split second before he slammed his foot into a new position to push back the massive robot! Suddenly, the gargantuan machine stopped and to the surprise of nearly all there…

It tipped in a huge explosion of force from below it! Something had not only stopped this metal monstrosity in its tracks but had gotten beneath it and tipped it on it's axis, sending it flying backward into the pavement behind it!

A massive dust cloud blew across the other contestants even out in the outreaches of Battle Center B and a tumultuous CLANG echoed throughout with solemnity.

People would later speculate what could have caused it. The mighty Zero-Pointer flailed around a bit, trying to right itself, causing catastrophic damage to the surrounding buildings. Eventually, however, it turned itself off and waited for maintenance.

Standing in the dust, Izuku panted. His bones were fractured from the shear stress he had put them under, and his healing factor was overtaxed. Both of his legs were torn to shreds as One-For-All's insane power had coursed through them to stop the mighty behemoth and had held back the weight of a juggernaut. Izuku was now only supported by the bone spikes that had erupted from his chest and body to stop the Zero-Pointer, leaving him a bleeding mess.

Finally, slowly, Izuku retracted his bones and fell-

_'Huh?'_ Izuku thought blearily, his whole frame having been shook by the force of the robot. _'I'm floating?'_

The dust cleared and he saw the nice girl trying to guide him to safety with her eyes firmly fixed on the ground. Izuku stared, far too tired to think normally. When they got far enough away, the nice girl took one look at him and… well, there was no nice way to put it… she vomited.

Izuku was too tired to care, however. He was floating and there was blood droplets floating around him too. His brain was apparently shutting down all non-necessary functions to help keep him alive.

Despite everything, Izuku smiled as everything faded to black.

He was glad she was okay…

* * *

Tenya Iida watched as the boy who threw himself underneath that Zero-Pointer was floated back out by the girl with the Zero-Gravity quirk. He had been watching the boy since the beginning of the exam. It was hard not to, considering his talking during the presentation and the raw nervousness that he exuded made Ida feel anxiety by proxy.

Despite this the few times he saw the boy fight, some kind of Spike Creation Quirk, he didn't seem incompetent. Just a bit slow. Like he wasn't used to fighting multiple foes over a wide distance. It made sense considering his Quirk looked to be best suited for up close melee combat. He probably was quite good fighting up close, but probably had no idea how to close the distance and use the space around you for attack or defense. It was obvious that he had a lot to learn.

The boy was being treated by Recovery Girl. The one with the Navel Laser Quirk, who fancied himself a Frenchman, had done a reasonable job explaining her role in UA. After all, there was a reason why they were allowed to hold such dangerous entrance exams. Recovery Girl was world famous for her healing abilities. Also the boy apparently had some kind of healing factor, but it was greatly overtaxed by the stunt he pulled.

Tenya was deep in thought. The other students were talking in surprised tones about how this boy might have defeated the massive Zero-Pointer, or wondered if he was suicidal, but they were missing the point.

_'That boy had thrown himself underneath the Zero-Pointer to save that girl. Literally throwing himself under the bus to buy us all time to retreat.'_ Tenya frowned at the thought. _'He sacrificed everything. He had to know how little points he had, and how much time was left… With people distracted by the Zero-Pointer it would have been easy to continue to scout of any of the straggling Villain-bots yet…'_

Tenya frowned deeper staring at the boy as Recovery Girl's Quirk put him back together. The Zero-Gravity girl threw up again seeing this process. Tenya had to admit, it wasn't pretty. The boy was lucky to be alive…

A thought struck the tall boy. _'Wait! The judges had to have seen all of that! Were there other parameters to the test that we didn't know about?!'_

This was a disturbing thought, but it was to be expected of UA. Always keeping you on your toes… Like a good Hero should!

_'There must be other parameters to the test.'_ Tenya theorized. _'He was just the only one who realized it in time! I would have done something similar if I had known!'_

Tenya felt a nasty feeling in his gut. He had been scared like the rest. That boy was the only one to act like a Hero right then. Potentially sacrificing his life to protect the rest of them…

The glasses wearing boy pushed up his glasses and walked back with the rest while the boy was carried away on a stretcher. Apparently, there was some further healing Recovery Girl needed to do back at her office. He did catch the other boy's name, however.

_'Izuku Midoriya, if you were correct in your gambit and passed the exam, I would very much like to get to know you better.'_ Tenya thought as he walked back with the others.

* * *

Izuku woke up to a white ceiling and the sound of beeps. His head was pounding…

"Oh good, you're awake." Recovery Girl said tersely. Izuku tried to sit up but winced as his whole body felt like it was on fire. "You're not done yet! I decided that you're natural healing factor was probably the best way to treat the injuries you sustained, but you needed more fuel."

Izuku struggled to stay up before flopping back down on his pillow. "Ow…"

"I bet." Recovery Girl said flatly. "You know, just because you have a healing factor doesn't mean you are immortal. You nearly died three times when I was trying to treat you."

"Seriously?!" Izuku said shooting up, but immediately regretted it as his torn muscles and ligaments caused him stabbing pain. "…ow…"

"For now, I recommend you don't move. Your body was out of fuel for me to use my Quirk. If I use up all your body's energy healing you up you might die!" Recovery Girl said seriously. "So I did the best I could and hooked you up to an I.V. with basic nutrients for your body to rebuild itself with. Like I said, you're lucky to be alive…"

"Is she okay?" Izuku croaked. Recovery Girl was quiet a moment.

"If you are talking about that girl you rescued, yes, she's fine. She needed some vitamin water after throwing up so much and a quick smooch to clear the bloodshot eyes after dry-heaving." Recovery Girl explained. "I have to admit, you looked pretty bad after that stunt you pulled. She'll probably need therapy."

_'Oh…'_ Izuku thought. _'It sucks that she threw up just looking at me, but… I'm glad she's okay.'_

"So what happens now?" Izuku asked. Recovery Girl sighed.

"I called your mother and let her know you are being treated for injuries." Recovery Girl said. "Depending on how fast you heal up after this next smooch, I'll probably send you home and put you on bedrest. Knowing your type however, I don't expect you'll actually stay in bed. I will warn you against throwing yourself under a several ton metal behemoth in the future."

"I won't." Izuku said softly as the reality of his situation finally caught up to him. "I'm pretty sure I failed. I didn't get too many points. I'm just glad I saved someone."

Recovery Girl stared at him a moment before chuckling. "I think you'll be fine. Now, give me some sugar!"

"Eh?!" Izuku yelped as Recovery Girl's lips came a little too close to his face.

Izuku was sent home later that day with a doctor's note and a recommendation to avoid doing anything stupid for the next few days.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Time with Mom**

* * *

Izuku stared blankly at the fish head he was holding between his chopsticks.

The fish head, if possible, stared back.

Izuku was not well. After being scolded by his mother, and not in the 'angry and disappointed in your life choices' way he had seen Katsuki's parents berate the blonde with. No, his mother was far worse… Crying, worry, fear of a parent almost losing a child, all of that was present, but the worst was yet to come.

His dad called.

He actually called and asked if he was okay.

Izuku would have rather been nearly crushed by the Zero-Pointer again to avoid the sheer awkwardness of that phone call. His dad was… trying. After his Quirk had 'manifested' and it happened to be different than either parent, his dad kinda… over-reacted. Some things were said. Some reparations were attempted. There was a reason he had so much All-Might merch despite his dad's lower paying job.

It was just… a long time ago, and things were just really awkward between the two.

He didn't know if it was his dad calling or just the fact that he failed the UA entrance exam, but it brought back some ugly memories. His mom crying after a phone call with his dad, some weird looks from people when they found out his Quirk, his mother's family believing his dad and all but disowning her, and it all seeming to be Izuku's fault. It was just… hard…

That combined with a complete lack of contact with All-Might all week and the medically mandated bed rest, Izuku was spiraling into depression. Thoughts and worries plagued his mind. He didn't regret saving the nice girl, but he regretted not being strong enough or smart enough or fast enough. Just not 'enough' to be a Hero. It was eating him from the inside out.

What if everyone was right about him? What if he really was creepy and weird? What if he wasn't good enough to be a Hero? What if he wasn't-

"Izuku? Izuku, Sweetie?" his mother asked, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. "How long are you going to stare at that fish? Should I be worried?"

"Oh! Um- no mom!" Izuku said, then began to scarf down his rice. His mother still gave him a worried look. Izuku frowned and put down his rice.

"Sweetie, I know waiting for the results is hard, but I just want you to know…" His mother set down her chopsticks. "I still think you are really cool sweetheart even if you don't get in."

Izuku just looked at the woman who raised him and felt his heart rip up. Wetness pooled in his eyes. He didn't- he didn't want to…

"It's not fair… why did I have to get a Quirk that hurts me and makes people uncomfortable?" Izuku said, finally breaking down in tears. He wiped away his tears in shame. He didn't want to cry in front of his mom. "The girl I managed to save threw up taking one look at me! I don't know what you or All-anyone else sees in someone like me… Their right! Everyone is right! I am just Deku! I'm useless, and I- I just-!"

His mother got up and walked over to his side of the table. "Do you really believe that?"

Izuku lowered his eyes, but nodded. His mother raised his head and forced him to look her in the eyes. His mother was rage incarnate. The ferocity in her eyes surprised him, but she held him firmly so he couldn't look away.

"Izuku Midoriya." She said, green eyes meeting green eyes. She never raised her voice, adding a whole new level of terror to the experience. She spoke in a firm, but fierce, unflinching tone that spoke of determination and drive. The drive he inherited from his mother. "That is my son you are speaking about. I can handle a lot of disrespect, over the years people have called me many things, but I will not tolerate any disrespect towards my son. My son is kind, he tries his absolute best to a worrying degree. He would sacrifice his own life and well being for a stranger, and has more heart and courage than anyone I know! I will not have anyone look down on him while I can help it, and if he can't believe in himself, if he can't believe in me, than he should believe in the me that believes in him. Who cares if UA doesn't think he's are 'worthy' of being a Hero? He has an amazing Quirk that I know will keep my baby safe while he goes out there and tries to prove to this cruel world that he is the best. Not that he ever needed to prove anything in the first place. Do you understand me?"

Izuku could only nod in her hands. Her eyes finally softened, and she released his head to just… hold him. In her arms Izuku finally melted. His frustrations and his fears, his worries and his sorrows, they all leaked out of the boy's eyes at that moment, and he cried. But there was no shame in it. His mother held him resolutely and when he was done, she had more to say.

She didn't know about all the bullying he had been through. She didn't know how he was treated in class. But the words made him feel better, even if there was no way she could possibly understand...

"Now… You haven't heard back from UA. That means you haven't failed yet… And if for some reason UA doesn't work out, there are other ways you can be amazing." His mother said. "Tell you what! How about you and I go someplace tomorrow?"

"Where?" Izuku asked.

* * *

Izuku walked behind his mother, still using his scooter to move about as his leg was going to be in the cast a bit longer. It was a little ridiculous at first but people seeing him on the scooter made public transportation a bit easier. He and his mother were given good seats and for once he was grateful for Japan's culture of over-politeness compared to other countries.

The building his mother led him to looked like it had seen better days. It was obvious that it was well cared for though as there were pots of flowers outside the door and a comfy sort of atmosphere around the place.

'_Naboo Humanitarian Society?_' Izuku thought reading the plaque on the door. He remembered that his mother told him about this place. It was a local volunteer/religious based society that helped with humanitarian aid. They worked with the Hero Association and certain religious groups like Red Cross to help reach out to people affected by disaster areas or those displaced after villain attacks, or anyone who needed help really.

"Good morning Ms. Inko!" An elderly woman who Izuku would have placed in her late seventies greeted them. "Oh! Is this fine young man your boy? I've heard so much about you!"

Izuku blushed taken off guard. "Ah! The honor is mine ma'am!"

The older woman chuckled. "Such a polite young man. So, Ms. Inko what are we working on today?"

"Something simple." His mother said giving an elderly couple a small wave as they left having completed their volunteer hours. "How about quilt tying?"

"A fine choice!" The older woman beamed. "Oh! Where are my manners! My name is Mrs. Fujioka, pleased to make your acquaintance!"

"The honor is mine. Izuku Midoriya, ma'am." Izuku said bowing slightly to show respect. The woman laughed and led them to where they could get started.

"We're going to get you started tying quilts." Mrs. Fujioka said. "Your mother is a wiz at this, and we so do appreciate her help! She'll help you get started and if you need anything, I'll be right over there helping with the assembly. Have fun!"

"Thank you!" both mother and son said.

His mother pulled out yarn and a long, thick needle with a threader and a rubber bit to help pull the needle through if it got stuck, and was soon showing Izuku how to make the knots.

"Hold the thread at the base as you pull it through." His mother instructed. "See how the fluff tries to come out with the thread? If you don't hold it, it will pop right out. Also make sure you hold the string, so it doesn't get tangled on the underside."

Izuku felt his worries and apprehension melt away as his mind began focusing on the task at hand. Tying the quilt wasn't super labor intensive and his fingers were awkward at the start, but soon he was getting the hang of it. Row after row was soon being filled with perfectly spaced knots as Izuku began working with the needle. As he worked however, he noticed that he and his mother, along with Mrs. Fujioka were the only people working in the little shop.

"Shouldn't there be more people?" Izuku asked quietly. His mother tied some knots and then snipped the length between the knots to create little bow-like strands.

"Hmm… A lot of people donate to charities, and the government makes sure that people are cared for, so they don't really know that what is really needed is volunteer work." His mother explained finishing a row. "They feel like this sort of thing is just taken care of by throwing more money at it, but what they need at times is man-hours working to make sure things get done. Are you done with that row? Are you ready to roll?"

Izuku looked at his progress. "Nearly… Um… Why don't people volunteer more? Isn't this something that Heroes would be all over?"

"I'll start on this end then." His mother said, wheeling her chair to the side to work on the left of Izuku to tie some knots on that side. "Heroes like more flashy work… They are amazing at stopping enormous monsters and such, saving lives, but who looks after the mother of two when her house was destroyed in the battle? Where does she sleep while her house is being rebuilt? Where does she go if she herself is injured in the attack and she is left homeless?"

Izuku felt like he should know the answer but at the moment his mind wasn't cooperating with him, so the answer died on his lips.

"My family was in that very situation growing up." His mother said with a shrug. "There was a lot of food, and there was shelters and the like, but there wasn't enough blankets. We lived like that until our house was rebuilt. Cementoss in his early career was known to just up and rebuild people's houses like that, but he wasn't around just yet. There was a Hero I remember helping though. She was kind and not very well ranked or anything. She was just… there. She helped make quilts in her spare time, helped keep kids and others safe in the shelters, and made sure everyone got a toothbrush!"

His mother chuckled at the memory. "There are a lot of lives that can be touched even just by a kind word or a good deed in the right place. I'm not discounting those who want to be superheroes! We still need saving from giant monsters and criminals! But there are just as many opportunity for those who don't have flashy Quirks like me to help out. Looks like it's time to roll. Unhook the fabric there and there and we have to make sure it's tight as we roll it."

Izuku looked down at the roll and his strong hands rolled the fabric tight and even before using clamps to keep it in place, revealing new rows to be worked on. He didn't know that people needed this kind of help as well… It was humbling, and inspiring.

"Do you remember that Hero's name? The one that helped you?" Izuku asked. His mother looked down with a smile.

"Not really… I remember that she was pretty and her name was... oh what was it? Shibura? Shimura? Something like that... I don't remember her too well, but I do remember her actions." His mother said. "Just like you, she wasn't just a Hero. She was a true hero. Those kind of people, they don't really care if you remember their name or not. They just help."

Izuku was quiet as he worked on his row. It was a hard pill to swallow but… he needed to know. Why did he want to become a Hero like All-Might? He knew it was his dream, but his mother was giving him a chance for some introspection. Even if he was Quirkless he could have done this kind of work. So why did he need to be someone like All-Might? He already had the power, but now he was questioning what kind of Hero he wanted to become with that power.

If he wanted to be remembered, to punch the bad guys, and to become famous… Endeavor or Katsuki could do that… He couldn't see either of them sitting around a quilting circle, but strangely he could see All-Might doing exactly what he was doing-

"Oh! Mr. Toshinori!" Mrs. Fujioka called. "So nice to see you again!"

Both All-Might and Izuku froze looking at each other.

So… All-Might volunteered here too… The man was in his 'Small-Might' form, thin as a rail and carrying a bag under his arm which Izuku noticed had some knitting needles sticking out of it. All-Might… knits?

"Izuku…" His mother said. "It's not nice to stare…"

Izuku jumped back to his work, ignoring All-Might- never thought he would do that!- and returned to tying the quilt.

"Mr. Toshinori is a very nice man. He was hurt in a villain attack a few years ago, but he still helps out where he can." His mother said with a good deal of admiration in her voice. She was nearly done with her row. How was his mother so fast at this-? "He volunteers at several places since he is restricted to working only a few hours a week. He makes blankets, he puts together hygiene kits, helps with food drives… all when he is chronically injured! He is the definition of selfless service."

Izuku smiled to himself. Even in his injured form, All-Might really couldn't stop helping others could he?

"Yeah… He definitely is." Izuku said.

All-Might smiled as he tried to keep up with Mrs. Fujioka's furious knitting speed.

* * *

Izuku awkwardly left 'Mr. Toshinori' alone with Mrs. Fujioka when their volunteer hours were up. Izuku and his mother had managed to tie two whole quilts in the time it had taken. The boy also learned that his mentor and hero was very adept at knitting, though he didn't hold a candle to Mrs. Fujioka. In the space of time it had taken All-Might to knit three baby hats, Mrs. Fujioka had managed to knit fifteen. Her worn, yet still deft, fingers managed to keep a practiced speed as she pearled, stitched, and basically created new fabric out of the yarn with a technique that was something to behold.

"That was fun?" His mother asked. Izuku smiled. What his mother would think if she found out All-Might was the one that she looked up to as well?

"Yeah… I feel much better." Izuku said. "I didn't know this kind of Hero work was needed as well… but…"

Izuku stopped and his mother stopped with him. Izuku took a deep breath and expelled it.

"I know it isn't the kind of Hero work everyone needs like this, but I want to be a Hero like All-Might too." Izuku said. "I want to give peace- no strength, to those in a disaster area. Not only with fighting crime, but keep them smiling even after the fighting is done. I just want to help… And I know that I can't sit still when people are hurting or in trouble. It's just not who I am… So… even if I don't get into UA…"

Izuku looked down as he wasn't sure what he was trying to say… He wanted to be like All-Might because…

"I want to be strong enough that people don't worry about me. I want to be the one that helps keep people safe from the bad stuff, that can be there when people need them to be… in whatever facet that might- no… that isn't right…" Izuku frowned. His mother smiled and wrapped a hand around his own.

"Perhaps… you don't have to decide just yet." His mother said. "All-Might is a wonderful Hero, and people should look up to him, but don't forget there are other, much less dangerous ways to help as well… and that I'll be supporting you in those ways while you are off trying to be a Hero like him."

Izuku looked up surprised. His mother smiled.

"You always were a bit stubborn when you put your mind to something, so I know it is useless to try and stop you." His mother said. "You get that from your father, stubborn as a mule that man… You kept dreaming even though everyone said that you couldn't make it. I feel like a while ago I said something that might've made you believe that I didn't support you. I'll always worry. I'm a mom. It's kinda my job, but I want to let you know that I know you can be a Hero just like you dreamed. I've always believed in your potential son, but I was afraid that you would be crushed if you didn't make it for whatever reason. I couldn't dissuade you from your dream though, I didn't have the heart to. I guess what I am trying to say… What I meant to say all those years ago… even though I am scared to let you go and do what you wanted-"

Izuku was crying freely at this point, his mother had tears in her eyes.

"Yes! Izuku, my son, you can become a Hero!" His mother said, giving his free hand a squeeze. "I'll support you and be the person you can turn to get you up when you fall and I'm sorry if I hadn't been that for so many years and I-!"

Izuku hugged his mom. "I… I forgive you, and I'm sorry I made you worry and I promise that no matter what happens I will do my best to make you proud and-"

"Sweetie! You're going to make me cry! You already make me proud!" His mother bawled.

"Mom!" Izuku cried.

"Son!" His mother cried.

The rest of the people on the street gave them strange looks as they cried and hugged it out, but Izuku didn't care. His mother believed in him, and maybe, he could believe in himself this time…


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Progress**

* * *

After they had, had their moment, Izuku and his mother had found their way home. Izuku had began working on applications to potentially get into one of the other Hero schools while he still had the chance. He might not be able to get into UA, but he could maybe get into Shiketsu or-

"Izuku!" His mother said opening the door holding out a letter. She had just come back from the grocery store and must have checked the mail. "It came!"

Izuku's mouth became a thin line. It was time…

* * *

He could hear his mother pacing outside his room, eager and just as nervous as he was to learn how he did. He saw the UA crest sealing it shut and suddenly Izuku didn't feel good. Was this an omen? Apprehension racked his mind as he began to worry why the school would send such a clunky letter.

_'I won't know how badly I failed if I don't open it up!'_ Izuku thought. _'That sounded wrong… maybe I shouldn't open it… but if I don't I'll never know if I actually succeeded? Who knows? Maybe I got into the Gen Ed group or the support group… No… My grades weren't high enough for that… and I think I only got an eighty-eight on that math quiz. You need at least an A- to get into the support group… Wait- no! Snap out of it! You've faced down a giant crab guy, a slime guy, and even a giant robot! What's a letter that could potentially crush your hopes and dreams, eh? Gosh dang it! Just open the letter! -and I probably shouldn't just rip it in half like that… um… how to open it?'_

Izuku focused the warmth in his bones to flow down his arm, piercing his skin and forming into a thick blade. Izuku winced from the pain and used a tissue paper that he kept near his desk for… reasons! He used the tissue to wipe the blood off before using the blade to open the letter.

There was a thick metal looking disk- wait was that a holodisk? Those were super expensive! Why would-?

Izuku's train of thought was cut short as he accidently pressed the 'on' switch on the disk and it started to play.

_**'Booyah! I am here as a PROJECTION!'**_ All-Might's holographic image said with gusto causing Izuku to nearly fall over backward in surprise.

"All-Might?! Wait- is this live?!" Izuku yelped trying to hide his mode of dress. He was still in a stained shirt and-! "Wait a minute… this letter came from UA?! Is that why you wanted me to apply there?! Because you'd be teaching there?!"

_**'Hehe… I actually came to this town because I got a job offer to work at UA to train the next generation of Heroes!'**_ All-Might said, confirming Izuku's suspicions. _**'Sorry I didn't get back to you! I got caught up having to grade papers and I dropped my phone on the bathroom tile somehow shattering the screen!' **_A hand appeared in the shot waving at All-Might._** 'Huh? You want me to speed things up? Wait- I have to do how many of these things?! Ahem, well apparently I should just get to the point!'**_

Izuku gulped as he waited for the verdict.

_**'Izuku Midoriya, you passed the written exam, but you only got seven Combat Points total in the practical exam. Combined with the score you got on the written exam, your grade was not high enough to make it into the Hero Courses or the Support Courses.'**_

Izuku looked down in shame. He knew it… He wasted All-Might's time and he'd probably have to give back the Quirk All-Might passed down to him. He'd see about getting into Shiketsu to see if he was still able to become a Hero some other way-

**_'That is… if combat was only thing we graded you on as a Hero!'_** All-Might said, surprising the young man. _**'Take a look at this video!'**_

Izuku's attention was directed to a screen to All-Might's right and a video began to play showing-

"The nice girl I saved?! Wasn't she freaked out-?!" Izuku asked to nobody in particular.

_'Um… excuse me…'_ the girl said still holding a plastic bag to vomit in if she needed it. She looked nauseous. _'The boy that got carried away on a stretcher… is he okay? He kinda jumped under a giant robot… um… anyways, I overheard that he didn't get too many points. He was trying to help but… I only twisted my ankle.'_

"Wait-WHAT?!" Izuku said standing up. "She could have-?!"

_'Still, he jumped in only because he thought he was trying to help me and-_' The girl continued obviously trying not to hurl just thinking of him. _'Ugnh… ended up… as… hamburger… oh go-GGHLCK!'_

The girl threw up into the barf bag. Izuku winced, feeling nauseous himself. The poor girl looked traumatized. Was he really that messed up afterwards?

'_Ugnh…'_ the girl groaned. She looked awful. _'I feel bad… I mean, he was only trying to help… so… can he just have some of my points?'_

Izuku felt his heart stop beating for a second. "… what?"

'_He got really badly injured because of me… Even if I could've gotten away he still tried to save me… so… can you just transfer some of my points?!'_ the girl asked screwing her eyes shut, forcing herself to speak despite her nausea. All-Might paused the video.

**_'Your actions, though unnecessary, inspired others to act!'_** All-Might proclaimed. '_**The entrance exam the other day was not graded solely on Combat Points! How can a Hero Course reject those who honestly thought they were trying to do the right thing and help others?! We don't just pay lip service to those ideals! This is a job where you put your life on the line to help another person! We will constantly risk our lives putting those ideals to the test! That's why we have Rescue Points!'**_

Izuku stood frozen with baited breath as the spark of hope he had held rekindled.

_**'A panel of judges watched your actions, saw that you were unaware that, that girl could rescue herself and saw how you rushed into action.'**_ All-Might explained. _**'They saw your willingness to risk your life on those very ideals they held dear, and saw your strength in overcoming your weakness and fear to be willing to save everyone there! They have decided to award you sixty Rescue Points! The girl you 'saved' similarly acted and got you to safety and we rewarded her with forty-five Rescue Points! You both made it!'**_

Izuku could barely comprehend what he was hearing. He… made it? He didn't let All-Might down…?

"This is too crazy…" Izuku breathed.

'_**Young Midoriya! Welcome to your Hero Academia! You have made it into Class 1-A of the Hero Course! You'll learn new things, make new friends and associates, and most of all-!'**_ All-Might said and Izuku felt like this time, the smile plastered on All-Might's face was just for him… **_'You'll make us all proud! This is the first step in you journey to become an amazing Hero!'_**

Izuku felt tears come to his eyes. Yup, he was bawling. All of the stress and anxiety he had felt, all of the pain and struggling he had done all his life… all of it, it seemed worth it just then. All of his blood, sweat, and tears… He did it… He made it… He was good enough.

"I swear I'll make you proud All-Might…" Izuku said getting up and wiping the tears from his eyes. He was going to show the world that he too could become a splendid Hero! "I won't let you down!"

**_'You will report to the school in two weeks! Send in your designs for a Hero Uniform to the address on the letter this came in and we will send you an official school uniform! You earned this kid!'_** All-Might said. And with that the hologram message ended.

Izuku poked out one of his bones, feeling the bone pierce his skin confirmed that, no, he wasn't dreaming… This was… real… The boy sucked the bone back into his body and wiped up the blood.

"Mom!" Izuku cried.

* * *

Later that week, Izuku got a text from All-Might telling him to meet at the beach again. His cast was finally off and he told his mom he was going for a walk down to the beach. She hesitantly allowed him to go on his own, trusting that he'd be back before curfew at nine.

The boy was surprised that the beach was occupied now. Since he had started cleaning up sections of the beach, more and more people had begun showing up. Now, this place that used to be cluttered with trash was soon filled to the brim with young couples wanting to get away from the city and stare at the ocean. Izuku was just surprised the place had become so popular since then. It had only been a few weeks since he had finished cleaning the trash.

'Mr. Toshinori' was standing by himself looking out onto the starry beach, sticking out slightly amongst the various young couples now walking up and down the beach. Sensing someone behind him, the older Hero turned and smiled.

"You made it kid! Took you long enough!" All-Might said ruffling the boy's hair. Izuku just smiled. "Sorry again I didn't get back to you, between the office work and my physical therapy I didn't have a whole lot of time."

"Definitely had time to knit some hats though." Izuku muttered impishly. All-Might sighed.

"You got me there… I think I told you I broke my phone… Still, sorry I didn't get back to you." All-Might said rubbing the back of his head. "I just figured you should know that I didn't pull any strings to get you in. You got into UA on your own power. It was your selflessness that convinced the judges, never forget that!"

Izuku nodded but still felt the need to self-depreciate.

"That's not true… Without the hard work and effort you and Simon put into me, I never would have made it." Izuku said. "Honestly, I wake up every morning and think 'I must be dreaming'. A year ago it would have been a fantasy, now, it's reality and I still have a hard time believing it's real."

"Well… as a Hero before me once said 'Believe it'. You really need to stop selling yourself short, young man." All-Might scolded but his smile quickly returned. "Speaking of which, how was your first time using One for All? You gave me quite a scare but boy howdy was that awesome!"

Izuku blushed. "It was… really too much… All I really remember is… well… It's sounds silly, but when I use my quirk it feels like my bones are warm… When I used One for All it felt like I was being electrocuted. It felt like there was raw, primal power in my muscles and it just went- Bwoosh! Or maybe POW? Um… I know! It was like an egg exploding in a microwave!"

All-Might nodded, not remarking on how Izuku described the sacred power. "You have to _feel_ the power! Did you have any trouble controlling it?"

"Uh… yeah…" Izuku said looking at his hands. "It felt like it was too much power all at once… but it reacted to my command instantly. I don't think I'm strong enough to contain it…"

"Well, yeah!" All-Might said, making Izuku sputter. "Even with your healing factor, and your durability, I knew we were doing a bit of a rush job, but if I didn't get you trained up, your arms might've gone flying off after one punch!"

"Eh?! You mean you knew it would damage me that badly?!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Ssh! Keep it down!" All-Might said looking around. Some of the couples were staring at them. "I mean, I had total faith in your ability to handle it, I just knew that there would be a bit of a… learning curve!"

"Recovery Girl said I tore all the muscles and ligaments in both my legs…" Izuku said harrowed. "My bones were fractured in several places, and I was totally torn to shreds… I thought we did all that training so my body wouldn't do that…"

"I wasn't the one that told you to throw yourself at the feet of a giant robot!" All-Might said spitting up blood. He wiped it off with a handkerchief. "You really need to be more careful Young Midoriya. You really did almost die three times while Recovery Girl was operating on you. You are really lucky that you're so durable!"

"I'm sorry All-Might!" Izuku exclaimed feeling bad. All-Might tried to shush him but he was too late this time.

_"Did someone say All-Might?" one said. "Where is he?"_

_"Sweetie! I want an autograph!" another said._

"Quick! Say you made a mistake!" All-Might hissed. Izuku panicked.

"Erm! It looks like I made a mistake! Yup! All-Might isn't here! It's just my… uh…. Uncle! All-Mike Tyson!" Izuku said waving his hands.

_"… seriously?" one said._

_"Come on honey let's go…" another said._

_"Wait did he say Mike Tyson?" another said extremely confused._

Izuku and All-Might stood frozen waiting for the rest of the people to leave. Izuku had his hands covering his mouth looking like he was about to pass out. All-Might slumped. They really needed to work on the kid's anxiety…

"Look! From now on, you are the ninth bearer of One for All!" All-Might said jabbing a finger at him. "I am entrusting you with that amazing power so you can improve upon it, make it your own, and then when the time is right, to pass it on to the next person. You are the embodiment of that trust, so for now, be careful when you use One for All and try to use it as often as you can so you can gain mastery over it."

"But how am I supposed to use it if it keep breaking me?" Izuku asked worriedly. All-Might actually shrugged.

"I dunno. I didn't have any problems using it when I inherited it." All-Might said. "Granted, I was Quirkless and trained my butt off for seven years before I even inherited it so…"

"Seven years!?" Izuku asked. "I barely got eleven months!"

"Well, yeah! But um… It was imperative that I passed along the Quirk as soon as possible!" All-Might sighed looking down. "No matter how you slice it, I only have so many hours a day using One for All. If I waited any longer I don't think I'd even be able to pass it on. Also I had faith in your abilities. Your body is extremely durable. I'd put you at about… three years in. You're about half trained. With One for All now residing in you, your body will become even more durable as you adapt to using it's awesome power. When you are full trained…"

All-Might inflated to his full size. **"You will become a Hero that might even one day surpass me!"**

"_Oh my gosh! Sweetie look! It really is All-Might!" Someone said making both Izuku and All-Might freeze._

_"We should see if he is willing to sign my purse!" another said._

**"Keep training, tell Simon you are ready for a 'test', and see you in a week! Sayonara!"** All-Might said quickly before running like hell, leaving Izuku alone to deal with the now miffed young couples cheated out of an autograph.

* * *

Izuku frowned staring at the paperwork before him. How the heck was he supposed to put down that he suddenly had a new ability?! He needed to get his quirk re-evaluated, maybe even re-named. 'Marrow' was good, but it still didn't encompass the new overwhelming power of One for All…

He buried his head into his hands. He was supposed to be figuring out his sizes for a new school uniform and trying to come up with a design for a Hero costume- err uniform… Was it really a costume if it was meant to be your work attire? Hmm…

He needed something that would allow him to use both Marrow and One for All equally without impeding his mobility… He'd also need something that would help him cover his weaknesses. A utility belt was a must… Izuku would prefer if it wasn't super showy… maybe something light, but still offering protection?

Izuku bit the end of his pencil. It was a terrible habit, but it helped him think. All-Might's Hero suit was made of ultra-durable fabric designed by David Shield, one of the world's leading experts on Support Gear and Hero Suits. Izuku assumed the reason for that was because One for All was probably terrible on clothing. The sheer amount of force was insane. And his own Quirk was another mess altogether.

His abilities allowed him to grow bones from his body so naturally, it would need a way to accommodate that skill… Maybe he could learn to more finely control the bone growths, so they only appeared in certain locations? Well… because of the painful nature of his Quirk he didn't have a whole ton of practice with it… Maybe he could make the bones come out of his knuckles like claws- Owowowowow! Nope!

Izuku clutched his bleeding and painful hand trying to coax the bones back into place. Izuku winced, eyes tearing up as the bones slowly retreated. That… was extremely painful… The bones had tried growing from the base of his wrist and out through his knuckles, kinda like that hero 'Honey-badger', but instead of looking like a three year old putting pencils between his fingers as 'claws', the bones tried to grow _through_ his hands. Bone tried to grow through soft tissue, multiple bones in the hand, nerves and other important bits.

Maybe… Izuku focused again and grew bone like claws from the bones beneath his knuckles, making sure they pierced the skin quickly and weren't trying to grow through his hands thank you very much! This resulted in a slightly less painful version of the same effect… except…

"These are really flimsy…" Izuku lamented. The bones jutting out of his hands were attached to the bones just beneath his knuckles but that was it. They felt like they would twist or wiggle if he tried punching with them. "I mean, their probably harder than steel but… I wish I could hold something in my hand normally… It'd be a lot more sturdy when fighting than something like this… Wait…"

Izuku had an idea… It was a really dumb idea, mainly because Izuku hadn't thought about it before. Slowly, he grew the bones already protruding from his hands and then… huh… this was a bit more difficult than he thought… maybe if he thinned it at the base? No… hmm… maybe he could…

For the next hour Izuku played around with his Quirk, ignoring the pain and bleeding as he morbidly found out something amazing.

At age eight, Izuku Midoriya had the ability to freely control the osteoclasts and osteoblasts in his body, the cells that form bones.

At age fifteen, nearly seven years later, he found out that he could form those bones so he could remove them from his body to use as tools.

In Izuku's hands was a knife, covered in blood and it still had a piece of his skin on part of it, but it was entirely removed from his body. His hands were sticky with blood but… he could feel that the knife was sharp and extremely strong.

Izuku could make weapons on command.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Pavlov's Dog**

* * *

To say that Izuku was surprised was an understatement. He knew he could augment his skeleton to do some pretty amazing things, but this was a tad ridiculous! With this ability he could make simple tools on command! The issue he had with the process was, just like the rest of his Quirk, it really hurt!

But if he could make bone tools and weapons… that'd be pretty amazing. Suddenly, his options for combat were greatly enhanced. Heck, if he could make a bo staff or a spear then he could maybe hold his own against people much stronger than him… Hmm… He hadn't tested the limits of how much material he could make, but it should be simple enough to try and find out!

He was just about to try making a spear when he heard a knock at the door.

"Izuku! Dinner's ready!" His mother called from the other side of the door. Izuku nearly popped a bone out in surprise.

"Ah- I just um! Coming mom!" Izuku said quickly trying to wipe the blood off of his hands. He would need to wash his hands before eating dinner anyways, but he wanted to get as much blood off as possible.

"Alright! Just remember that you need to get to bed soon! You have the last days of school starting tomorrow!" His mother reminded him through the door.

Izuku quickly hid the bone knife he had made and tried to get as much blood off as he could with tissues and hand sanitizer as possible. Then, when he was sure he wouldn't leave a ton of evidence in the bathroom, Izuku went to wash his hands like normal.

Smells from the kitchen told him that his mom had made miso soup tonight. While it wasn't his favorite it was still mom's home made cooking and well within his dietary requirements. He'd probably need a protein shake afterwards to make sure he got the right ratios though.

The young man smiled. He was really going to be a Hero…

This was amazing!

* * *

"I can't believe not one but two of my students got into UA! This is amazing!" the teacher said. It was the same teacher that had handed out their career placement tests at the start of the school year. "Especially you Young Midoriya! I will admit that you have really surprised me! I hope that you both will have good luck and that you'll study hard!"

"Yes sir!" Izuku said immediately while Katsuki, standing beside him, only nodded his agreement.

Izuku tried not to let the praise go to his head, but the boy had never heard praise from his teachers really. Not since there were so many students that deserved the credit far more than he did. He didn't have the best grades, but he was in the top ten of his classes. Granted he was only in the ninth or tenth spot, but he had worked his butt off to get from twentieth to ninth place in his Japanese Literature class and Social Studies.

To be acknowledged finally by someone other than All-Might or his mom, Izuku could barely contain himself! He was so happy!

But that joy was undercut by the person standing next to him during the teacher's praise. Katsuki… Of course he got in…

While Izuku had managed to get into the top ten, Katsuki had gotten into the top five. He didn't look it, but Katsuki was actually really smart and worked very hard to keep his grades up to his insane standards. He was no less than third place in all his classes and got first in Japanese Literature and broke some records in Physical Education. With his raw talent Katsuki was carving a name for himself.

After the teacher dismissed them, Katsuki had one thing to say in the hallway.

"Come with me. We have something to discuss." Katsuki said ominously.

Izuku gulped. Katsuki had chilled out a lot since the Sludge Villain attack but… Izuku just hoped that he didn't do anything to make Katsuki mad at him again!

_'No, I can't keep thinking about everything in a negative light!'_ Izuku thought as he followed Katsuki outside. _'Maybe he just wants to congratulate me!'_

* * *

Izuku was slammed roughly against side of the school as Katsuki manhandled him by the collar of his shirt in a very familiar fashion.

_'Or not!'_ Izuku thought as Katsuki looked like he was about to lay into him. He'd be fine, but if he got his school uniform ruined then his mom might freak out and-

"What did you do to pass the exam?! You must've cheated somehow right?! I'm supposed to be the first and only student in this shitty school to get into UA! But you just had to screw that all up!" Katsuki said picking the boy up slightly. "So what did you do?! Bribe the teachers?! I bet someone as pathetic as you got spare points out of pity!"

As usual, Katsuki's words cut into him like a knife. Intellectually, Izuku knew why he was still afraid of Katsuki, or rather why he had this response whenever Katsuki was angry.

A while ago, Izuku had read a paper about 'trained responses'. Some scientist had trained a group of dogs from birth by feeding them whenever he wore a white lab coat. At the end of the test, the dogs had a lifelong habit of beginning to drool whenever they saw a white lab coat.

It was kind of like how Katsuki had been tormenting him for years. It was to the point that Izuku would flinch and freeze up at the sound of an explosion or Katsuki's voice... For years, Izuku had felt pathetic. How was he supposed to be a Hero when he couldn't even stand up to a bully? But he wasn't pathetic, it was just years of psychological training to avoid Katsuki.

He was just like the dogs in the test...

A trained response…

So… Izuku faced with the angry Katsuki, he began to tremble and freeze up. Even though he had spent the last few months getting stronger, even though he had the Quirk All-Might had given him, Izuku still felt fear in his heart. His mind began to go blank as his trained response was to let Katsuki manhandle him and hope that the boy got bored and-

"For the last time drop out now or else!" Katsuki said and something in Izuku snapped back into place.

'_No… I… refuse to be a dog!_' Izuku thought and did something he never thought he would ever do. He grabbed Katsuki's wrist and squeezed.

Katsuki looked furious, but Izuku managed to take a single step forward.

"I'm not a dog…" Izuku said, and to his surprise, Katsuki stepped back. Not sure what to do, Izuku just said what was on his mind. "Someone I look up to told me that I have what it takes to be a Hero. So… Even if I have to get in your way, I won't back down Kacchan! I won't back down! Not when someone believes I can do it!"

"Shut up!" Katsuki roared but he kept backing away from Izuku. Wait- was his grip hurting Kacchan!?

Izuku let the boy go immediately, but this only seemed to infuriate the blonde boy even more. Izuku stood shakily as both he and his bully stared each other down. Izuku in apprehension and Katsuki looking like Izuku was something unpleasant. Izuku broke eye contact first, holding up his hands up in submission.

"You can beat me up if you really want, but even then I won't back down." Izuku said. "You can't do anything to stop me!"

Katsuki looked like he was weighing his options. Finally, Katsuki scoffed.

"What am I even worried about?" Katsuki said turning his back on the green haired boy. "You're so useless, I bet you won't even make it past the first day!"

And with that, Katsuki left Izuku in the back of the school. Izuku grit his teeth, his hands clenched into fists.

His mind was racing with questions, but instead of beating himself down, Izuku finally had some answers.

What the hell was wrong with him? A trained response to years of bullying.

Why did he act like that? Psychology. He was basically trained for years to avoid Katsuki.

Why did facing Kacchan feel the same as all those years ago? Because as soon as the confrontation started, he was reminded of it. Hence, why he felt weak as a child.

Why was it that, no matter what he did, Kacchan always-?! No… Today was different somehow. He wasn't sure what it was, but something was different.

Izuku felt... hope.

That was it. He felt like he had stood up to his demons. He had faced down against villains, druggies, and even a giant robot... but he still froze up seeing Katsuki.

He had met Katsuki's eyes and told him that he wasn't going to back down.

To Izuku, this was more unbelievable than inheriting All-Might's power.

The boy smiled and walked home. He had things to do!

* * *

While he had stood up to Katsuki, Izuku's nerves about the whole thing continued until the day before his first day at school. He had stood up to Katsuki, and then his mind began going haywire with probable situations. Izuku had fought back, but it was getting really tiring.

Not sure what to do, Izuku decided to better himself by going to train at Simon's. The large red letters on the banner and the massive globe above it boldly proclaimed the location 'Russia Sushi'. There didn't seem to be too many people yet. Sundays were a weird time for most restaurants, but it was the day most likely not to be rushed. Especially in the afternoon.

Izuku felt worried. He had come here because All-Might had suggested that he ask Simon for a 'test', and it was the day before school started. He really didn't want to go to school sore! Simon was teaching him a lot of grappling lately, and even something strange sounding. Artemis? Arnot? Something like that... Izuku was kinda nervous...

Despite this, Izuku decided to go in. He had been training with Simon for months but had only managed to have a bite of the infamous sushi once. Izuku had just immediately gon to the back to wait for Simon after that. Wandering inside, he saw that the interior was as strange as he remembered it.

It was fancy, even an uncultured person like Izuku could tell that. There was a strange mix between traditional foreign design and traditional Japanese styles. There were green stone pillars, fancy designs on the screens. Izuku felt like this place would be a good setting for a fight in a Jason Bourne movie.

Behind the sushi bar was a man Izuku had met but never spoken to, but had the sneaking suspicion that the pale man with sunken light blue eyes was the owner that Simon sometimes talked about, Denis. The man was wearing the 'Russia Sushi' uniform, and seemed to be deep in concentration preparing rolls for customers.

"Out of fish right now," Denis said without looking up. "If you want food you eat what I make, okay?"

Izuku looked up surprised. "Um… how much?"

The man named his price, and suddenly Izuku could understand why they could afford such an extravagant menu. It would be his allowance for a week all gone in one go… Suddenly, Izuku wasn't sure what he should do.

"I throw in discount." Denis said. "You friend of Simon, no?"

"Ah… yeah… He's been helping me train." Izuku replied. Denis nodded.

"So I hear." Denis said. "His Quirk very useful for teaching. Almost too good."

"Simon's Quirk? I don't think he mentioned it." Izuku said honestly. He placed his money on the tray for tips and Denis shrugged.

"He not talk about it, then he not talk about it." Denis said. "Okay, here we go."

Izuku looked at the plate, the man had filled up a plate full of a few rolls. Despite this, Izuku wasn't sure what he had just ordered.

"It is fried chicken, prosciutto, mabo tofu, and cheese roll." The man said with a wave of his hand, pocketing Izuku's money and changing his gloves.

"Prosciutto?" Izuku asked. Denis sighed.

"Italiano cured ham. Cheese is a garnish." The man explained. "You gonna eat it or what?"

Izuku, not wanting to offend the owner, and seeing there were no chopsticks but a bowl of warm water that Izuku had mistaken for miso soup. Izuku hesitantly dipped his fingers in the bowl and then proceeded to take one of the 'sushi' pieces with his bare hands. It was traditional to eat them this way… He took a bite of the fried chicken one and was surprised to find it was perfectly spiced. There was a crisp golden crust and the way it played with the rice, seaweed and- oh! There was a bit of ginger hidden beneath the chicken!

"This is really good!" Izuku said after swallowing.

"Why you act so surprised?" The Russian Sushi Chef asked. "I am owner and you pay me. Of course I give you good food!"

Izuku smiled and continued to eat. As he did so, Izuku noticed that the man prepared him another plate of food. Izuku slowed down and the man slowed down as well. Slowly, Izuku ate in silence. He noticed that if he ate all the food on a plate, he would be given another, so when he was given so much food that he couldn't eat anymore, Izuku had to decline.

"Is food not good? I give you more?" Denis asked with the same grim sort of face as before. Izuku held up his hands in surrender.

"No, no! The food is very good, but I can't eat another bite!" Izuku said. The man laughed.

"Glad to see you are filled!" Denis said. "But take some home with you. Sushi very good cold as well!"

Izuku generously accepted the man's doggy bag. "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh. The money you gave me was enough." The man said waving the boy off. "I just gave you price for as much as I though you could eat. Russia Sushi is very cheap!"

Izuku felt a bit of his soul leave his body. Was the man planning on feeding him until he burst? No wonder they were out of fish…

The boy bowed low. "Thank you for your hospitality! The food was amazing! But um.. do you know where-?"

Denis nodded. "You looking for Simon, no? He had to take _sick day_."

Izuku looked up. The chef had said this with derision in his voice.

"Is he okay?" Izuku asked quietly before proceeding to ramble. "I mean-! I'm sorry I don't know the situation, but Simon is very hard working and has taught me a lot! I um… I just think that if he is sick then he should be allowed to rest and- I mean I know with you being the owner and all that I have no right to speak on his behalf but-!"

"Shut up." Denis said bluntly. Izuku stammered but shut up quickly. Denis proceeded to clean his knives. "Culturally, we are very different. Japanese way too polite. It is off putting."

Not sure what to say Izuku, but feeling he had made a horrible mistake, stayed silent.

"Now, say what you mean with out all the 'I'm sorry'!" Denis said in a still rude, grim tone. Izuku frowned muttering to himself about how to do this, but then realized that he had a perfect idea of how to act.

Izuku squared his shoulders and looked the man directly in the eye. "Simon is my friend. I don't give a shit what you think. I think it's a bad idea if you're planning on firing the guy over a sick day! He's a good worker and my teacher!"

For the first time since Izuku met the man, Denis' lips quirked up before resettling in a grim frown. Was this working?

"In Russian culture, 'rudeness' is privilege given to all men. Even if we are poor, even if we are not free, we have right to express that discomfort." Denis said. "SO! You think you can come here, come to my bar and tell me how to run business?!"

Izuku, however, was prepared this time. Screwing his face up in his best impression of Katsuki, he glared at the man.

"You are encroaching on my martial arts training. If Simon looses his job, I lose not only a friend but my martial arts teacher." Izuku said mimicking Denis' aggressive monotone. "I say he is a good man. I don't know everything about your culture, I admit, but I am willing to stand up for my friend."

Finally, Denis, in all his grim glory, began to chuckle.

"Finally!" Denis said, still smiling. "I thought I would never hear Japanese boy say that! Heh… Simon got into fight last Tuesday. He work even with… ah, how you say when eye is bruised?"

"Um… I mean- a 'black eye'." Izuku said trying to reply correctly as well.

"Right! Simon very dark!" Denis agreed, but Izuku wasn't sure he got what Izuku said. "He got in a fight, and the swelling did not go down for almost a full week. Simon used his off day to go to the doctor, and he said the doctor allowed 'sick day'! Feh! I say, if he get into fight, he should work like normal, but Simon had 'doctor note' so he stay home today."

Izuku blinked but said nothing, waiting for the man to continue.

"I cannot teach you like Simon can, I have to watch the bar, but I can give you 'pointer'." Denis said. "I help you now free of charge. You are very lucky! Now, what is your Quirk?"

Izuku tried to keep a straight face like Denis as to not offend him by being too polite. "My quirk lets me create bones. I found out recently that I can make a bone come out of my skin and I can shape it to be a weapon, so I wanted to ask Simon about a bit of weapons training."

Denis seemed to think about it. "What style he teaching?"

"Um… I've worked on Capoeira, Judo, Krav Maga, Muy Thai, Sambo, and something else… oh! I remember! He was talking about teaching me that was called something weird like-!" Izuku started.

"Arnis. Also called Kali. It is Filipino martial art. It can be good for you." Denis said. "Also, I see Simon is teaching you his Systema."

"Systema?" Izuku asked. Denis shrugged.

"It is martial art developed in Soviet Russia. It is good for attack, and can be lethal, but nobody is really teaching it anymore." Denis said. "Simon been trying to recreate it. He is very close, but it is not perfect. Real martial art adapts. Famous martial artist Bruce Lee once say: 'Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, then add something of your own' or something like that. Arnis or Fencing might be something good for you to learn."

"Could you show me? I mean, not right now if you are busy but-" Izuku said excitedly.

"Shut up." Denis commanded. Then he sighed. "Okay, listen carefully, I only tell you once."

Izuku nodded. Denis then held up his knife.

"Arnis focus on position of blade." Denis said drawing a circle in the air in front of him. "Blade position combine with edge alignment. It means you focusing on moves that attack and defend. You create a circle in your mind, and put blade where it needs to be. Be quick, fastest way between two points is a straight line, use angles to block, and keep weapon moving. This increases defense, and can help make strikes stronger."

Denis ran through a few stances, and Izuku kept his attention on how the man kept his blade's edge towards his 'opponent', swinging the knife in a slow and obviously lackadaisical manner, but Izuku could see that if sped up the moves Denis was showing him could be lethal.

"Fencing…" Denis said with a sigh. "Each country in Europe is having their own style… It would take lifetime to try and learn them all, so I teach you basics of certain moves with weapons, yah?"

Izuku nodded slowly. Denis set his knife down and reached for a broom he kept behind the counter. Unscrewing the brush part from the handle, he had a rudimentary stick/staff. Denis then positioned himself, so he had his body facing sideways to his opponent, stick at the ready.

"This is very basics of fencing. Always keep body sideways and blade out. All moves must be in a position to swap to a guard, defense and attack at same time." Denis said showing Izuku how to thrust. "Keep motion in wrist, control blade, and keep footwork. Basic attacks being Lunge, Parry, and Riposte. Parry is blocking and not blocking at the same time. You use blade to move other blade out of the way and come in closer or retreat. Riposte is counterattack after successful parry. It is used to gain the upperhand and further knock weapons a side. Lunge can leave you open, only use it when you are sure of attack. Lunge is a thrust. Focus on using whole body to get the blade in between enemy's ribs."

Izuku nodded once again observing the man as he thrust forward, parried and the riposte. Denis then swapped stances with his knife in a relaxed sort of pose. Izuku frowned unsure of what the man was about to do.

"However, in street fight beware of men with knives. Many are untrained and use different moves then you used to." Denis said taking a stance that mimicked incoordination. "If man is waving knife like this, he doesn't know what he doing and trying intimidation on you."

Denis then put his knife at hip level in a normal grip, not a reverse grip, and seemed to be reaching out to snag someone.

"If man has knife like this he already is knowing where he will bury the body." Denis said seriously, then demonstrated the kind of stabbing action that he would do, and it wasn't pretty. He managed to get several stabs in before he let his 'opponent' fall to the floor.

"Fighting always bad, but winning is good. Winning can mean more than just winning a fight. Running away can be good tactic." Denis said. "Use moves to keep safe, never underestimate opponent, and whatever else master should teach his student!"

"Thank you!" Izuku said bowing low. "Err… I mean-!"

"No. That is good. Respect for your master is good in all places, no?" Denis said. "Now get out, I have more customers!"

* * *

Izuku felt awkward but left all the same after bidding the man goodbye. Izuku took in the bright afternoon in Ikebukuro. It was kinda overcast, but the sun shone down anyways.

Making his way back home by rail and then the subway, Izuku just sat back and watched the people around him. He could feel One for All almost speak to him. It was silly, Quirks didn't talk as far as he knew, but it almost felt like it was saying, '_These are the people you are to protect. Look at them.'_

And so Izuku did.

He observed the old and young, male and female, and those who were whole and those that were sick. Body or soul. Slowly, the boy fell asleep on the train, surrounded by those he was sworn to protect. It was kinda like… the people that used to make him so nervous, were now making him feel safe. Like everything was going to be okay since he was there to protect these people. Guarding them and watching out for them.

Was that weird? It felt weird... but Izuku smiled gently and relaxed.

Well… Heroes were aloud to be a little weird.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Starting Line!**

* * *

Izuku was sitting in the entryway of his home trying to get his shoes tied. He wanted to be early to the first class of his Hero career. Well, not that it was a 'career' career, you know? He just wanted to help others and be certified but if it was about the amount of money he would get, he didn't really even think about it.

He hoped he would have enough money to buy his mom a new coat or maybe he could donate it to the Humanitarian place his mom showed him. That'd probably make her happy.

The boy had spent so long training and thinking he would be worthless as a Hero; he didn't even know what he was really even aiming for… But now that he had successfully used One for All, Izuku was curious as to what his future would hold.

What kind of Hero did he want to be? What should he specialize in? Should he specialize in anything at all? What if he wasn't good enough as a regular Hero and they demoted him down to some kind of Support Hero?

Not that there was anything wrong with that! He was just hoping that he could be…

Izuku felt a small glimmer of hope, but even now he didn't dare dream of it. What he wanted, what he had always wanted, was to be a Hero like All-Might. A person who could make people feel safe and save others with a smile on his face. He hoped anyways…

"Izuku, you're mumbling again…" His mother said, smiling behind him. "Do you have everything? You didn't pack your bag full of action figures again did you?"

"Mom…" Izuku groaned. His mother would never let him live that time down. "That was when I was ten and- I just…"

Seeing that she had made her boy suitably flustered she opened her arms in an expectant way. Izuku got up and obliged her a hug. His mother squeezed him almost uncomfortably tight and then… she slowly let him go.

"Don't forget I love you son." She said tearing up. "Keep your chin up, make sure you do your best, and have fun sweetheart…"

Seeing his mother like this brought a tear to his own eye. She had been so supportive of him lately and he really appreciated it. Over the last couple years, he had felt distanced from his folks. He knew that his Mom cared about him just… it was complicated.

He really didn't want her to worry but he sometimes wished that his Mom would find out about him being bullied and help him fix it. But he couldn't do that now of course… but it had left him distant in the past because of how he was trying to hide it.

"Love you too, Mom." Izuku said. "I'm gonna be late again if I don't get moving but I just wanted you to know I'm really grateful for… you know, supporting me the last few days. I couldn't have done all this without you."

"Thank you son!" His mother said smiling brightly but then began to fidget. "Oh! Um… I know that this is kind of awkward but um… I kind of told your father that you passed."

Izuku's face fell, ready for whatever his father bothered to say to him.

"He got you this." His mother said, revealing a package. "His company, Detnerat, makes clothing for those who have… unique physiology. I made sure to give him the right size, and oh! I hope you like the color!"

Izuku pulled from the package what looked to be a wetsuit. It was green with black and grey accents and a red belt with plenty of pouches for supplies. Had this really come from his father? Like, Izuku knew he cared somehow but this felt… like an apology… He didn't know how to feel about it.

"He said that it's made of something called Memory Fiber." His mother said as he examined it. "It has special properties and should repair itself if you happen to rip it. Just press the sides of the rip together and it should go right back together. And um… the belt I bought so you could carry things as I know what it's like when your clothes don't have pockets."

Izuku stared at the present. He was far from forgiving his father for the disrespect shown to his mother and for basically abandoning him over the years, but… He was willing to give the man a chance to try and repair their relationship. They probably would never be super close, but it was a start… His father was trying to tell him that he supported his ambitions. At least a little bit anyway.

"Tell him 'Thanks' for me…" Izuku said, surprising his mother. "This must've cost him quite a bit. So it's only right to tell him thanks, right?"

"Alright, I will!" His mother said before glancing at the clock in the entryway. "Oh! Sweetie I love you but you're going to be late-! You don't want to be late on your first day!"

"Ah! Um-! Okay, I'll be going!" Izuku said taking the package with him. "Thank you!"

His mother smiled; her eyes still moist as she watched her son run out the door to catch his train.

* * *

Izuku was running- well okay, speed walking, down the hallways because it was probably against the rules to run down the halls. It was a really expensive and high tech looking place. Even more than what he had seen from the Entrance Exam. His class was 1-A… but everywhere he looked he couldn't seem to find-!

Izuku rammed into someone full force, causing them to spill their new school stuff all over the floor.

"I am so sorry!" Izuku said but when he looked up he saw… The person he bumped into looked really kinda scary. He had a pinkish, rocky looking head and he could see the boy's teeth through his strange lips.

To his surprise, however, the boy seemed almost… timid… He was moving his hands in a way that Izuku recognized as Japanese Sign Language. Izuku didn't know how to speak or understand what the boy was saying, but he got the general gist of it through the boy's rather expressive body language.

_'I'm so sorry!_' The boy said back through hand waves and other ques. _'Are you okay?!'_

"I'm fine! Are you okay? Oh- I sorry! Let me help you with that!" Izuku said and helped the boy pick up his school supplies.

The boy waved his hands like he was saying: _'Oh! You don't have to help me with that! I got it! Oh- it looks like you already picked it all up… Um! Thank you! I'm-'_

Izuku watched as the boy grabbed a pencil and paper to write out what he wanted to say. Then handed the notebook to him.

'_Thanks for helping me. My name is Koji Koda. You can just call me Koda though. I am lost trying to find Class 1-A. Do you happen to know where I might find it? I have been looking around for a while.'_ Koda wrote. Izuku frowned but took the notebook back to write back to him.

'_I am Izuku Midoriya! Nice to meet you Koda! I am afraid that I don't know where the class is but I'm sure that if we ask someone then-'_ Izuku paused thinking about how hard it must be for Koda to ask for directions. He seemed really shy and if he couldn't speak normally…

Izuku rewrote the last part. _'I'm sure someone will tell us if we ask. Let's go together! I'll do the asking. Is that's okay with you?'_

Koda's face washed over with relief but then looked down like he was ashamed. Izuku frowned but then wrote.

_'I'm a little nervous as well, so I get where you're coming from. Maybe if we do it together, then we can both get there on time.'_ Izuku wrote and then held it up for Koda to read. He seemed to mull over it before screwing up his eyes and nodding.

"It's going to be okay." Izuku said beginning to walk with the taller boy.

He was huge… Maybe six one or six two in height, with huge bulky muscles. But after spending so long with Simon and All-Might, Izuku wasn't intimidated or anything. In fact, compared to Simon or All-Might, Koda was… almost cuddly. It was weird to think about, but All-Might could be pretty intimidating and intense. Same with Simon actually…

They walked up together to the next class that they came across, Class 1-B. The door was open and inside they saw some really amazing looking people. It looked like a few of them had some really cool Quirks! A really pretty orange haired girl popped up and came to talk to them. Both boys froze as a blush formed on their cheeks.

"Hi! I'm Kendo, you here for class?" Kendo asked. Izuku tried not to worry, but he began to stammer.

"Um-! Yes! I mean-! No! But um… We were just hoping for directions to our class, we're a little lost!" Izuku said. Koda nodded vigorously behind him.

"Oh!" Kendo said. "What class are you guys in?"

"Um… We're in 1-A… Do you know where we can find the class?" Izuku asked and he swore he could feel the temperature in the room drop.

"He here to mess with us?" Someone who looked like a praying mantis said.

"What if he really needs help?" A girl with vines for hair said.

"You know what I think?" A blonde boy said getting up. "I think it's kinda pitiful, don't you? Class 1-A is supposed to be the precipice of this school , the best of the best, right? So much for the crowning jewel of UA!"

There was muttering through out the class, but nobody bothered to correct the blonde. Izuku grit his teeth and could literally feel Koda trembling behind him. This whole situation was a little too familiar to him, and it caused him to tremble both in fear and something that he never thought he'd feel in this kind of situation… anger.

"Koda, let's go." Izuku said, bottling up his anger and trying to smile. "If they are too busy to give us directions then we can just ask someone else."

"So! Looks like Class 1-A is full of nothing, but cowards that run away from a fight-!" The blonde began. Izuku let go of a breath a kept walking. "Hey! Don't run away while I'm berating you! See this is the sort of shit we'll have to deal with from them! Always looking down on us and-!"

Finally, Izuku turned, the words falling out of his mouth.

"No." Izuku said. "We aren't. I'm not here to start a fight or to argue. If you don't know where we are supposed to go, we'll find someone who does." Izuku bowed. "Thank you for your time."

"Don't just walk away!" The blonde shouted.

"Silence!" a new voice said.

Both Izuku and Koda turned and nearly ran into a man even taller than Koda. Izuku, however, immediately recognized him.

"No way! You're Vlad King!" Izuku said, beginning to fan boy. "It's an honor!"

Vlad frowned, not used to being greeted this way. "Um… I see. Are you two part of my class?"

"No, sir! We were trying to find Class 1-A!" Izuku said with excitement. "You're one of my favorite Heroes for being a role model for those with Blood Quirks and-!"

"Down the hall and to the right, follow past the first bathroom, and it should be on your first left!" Vlad said, interrupted. "Good luck!"

"Thank you sir! We'll be on our way!" Izuku said and bowed along with Koda.

"See how much of suck ups they are-!?" The blonde said before Vlad shot out some blood from his gauntlet and without looking pinned the boy against the wall. "Hey… what the…"

"You are being disruptive!" Vlad said. "Shut yer trap! Now, let's go over some stuff you need to know-"

Izuku and Koda didn't hear the rest as they walked down the hallway.

* * *

The two walked, one starstruck and the other out of nervous habit.

"Did you see that! Vlad King is teaching Class 1-B? I am so jealous! They have a really good teacher, you know!" Izuku gushed. "His Quirk is something called Blood Control and while it's kinda gross like my Quirk, it's like, a bazillion times more cool! He can trap people and make all kinds of cool effects with it! He can survive with only one percent of his blood in his body! It's too bad it gives him really bad anemia… Oh! I'm sorry! I tend ramble when talking about Heroes!"

Koda made some vague hand motions and looked back at Class 1-B. Izuku didn't understand Japanese Sign Language, but he did understand Anxiety.

"Oh, you're worried about what happened back there." Koda nodded.

"I don't really know what comes over me sometimes." Izuku said. "It's just- sometimes I just get mad or scared and I mutter a lot so sometimes stuff kinda slips out sometime… "

Koda made a worried face. Izuku winced.

"Yeah… I'm glad I kept my head. Probably wouldn't do to start a fight on the first day of school, but boy did that guy deserve a punch to the nose." Izuku muttered. "Sorry if I made you nervous…"

Koda waved his hands.

"You don't have to apologize for asking for help! I would have helped no matter what! Everyone gets nervous and anxious at times, and the first day of school can be a little… scary." Izuku admitted but then smiled. "I think we're almost there! The numbers are lessening so that means we are nearly there!"

"Strike one…" a voice said from behind them.

Izuku and Koda froze and found themselves looking at… a very large yellow caterpillar! It had the face of a hobo and-! Wait- was that a person!?

"If you continue to be late, you will be dropped from the class and sent home in disgrace." The hobo man said, shedding his yellow caterpillar looking sleeping bag. "Come on, we have to get to class…"

"Um… sir?" Izuku asked. The man paused. "Sorry, sir. I assume you are the teacher… But um… aren't we not late if the teacher isn't in the room?"

"Strike two…" The man intoned; his voice sounded like a nail being hammered in a coffin. Izuku gulped. "Technically, you are correct, that's why I didn't expel you on the spot… Now, come on."

They followed the formerly yellow caterpillar hobo man through the sliding door. Izuku just hoped Katsuki wasn't in the same class as-

"I keep telling you to get your feet of the desk! How can you disrespect such a fine establishment as UA!? Don't you care that the previous, even the future, generations of Heroes have used or will use that desk!?" That glasses kid from the entrance exam said.

"And I told you that you have a massive stick shoved your ass! If you want my feet off the desk come here and do it yourself!" Katsuki said with a feral grin. "Fair warning though, I might decide to rip you a new one, so you better find another stick to shove up into the new hole I'll make!"

"How rude! How can you threaten me, a fellow student-!" The glasses kid said pausing as he saw the magic, formerly yellow, caterpillar hobo man walked into the door. "Sir! Good morning!"

"… Strike one to both of you." The man said, and to Izuku's surprise he saw Katsuki move his feet. Right! This guy must be some kind of Pro Hero is he is in a place like UA, even if he did look like a hobo… "My name is Shota Aizawa. I'll be your home room teacher… Put these on and meet me in the track and field area in twenty minutes. Time is money, so don't be late."

The man pulled what looked like a gym uniform for UA out of… somewhere and tossed it at Izuku… The boy frowned. Where did the teacher get that from? Either way Izuku left with the other boys to let the girls change. To his surprise he saw a familiar face.

"How's it going?" Mineta asked, approaching them. "You got in fifth place…. Not bad."

"Whoa, Mineta! You got in? That's great!" Izuku said smiling. It was good to see a friendly face around… well besides Katsuki anyways. Izuku glanced ahead of the boy and saw the blonde chatting it up with- Wait! "No way! That guy has a Crimson Riot haircut! That's so cool! He even got the color right!"

Mineta frowned. "Bro… chill. You are going to be literally surrounded by superheroes and wannabes. You gotta stay cool."

Izuku and Koda, who was still hanging around Izuku for some reason, stared at the smaller boy. "How do you do that?"

Mineta puffed out his chest. "Watch and learn!"

The smaller boy strode up to a boy with a black lightning bolt design in his hair. Izuku and Koda watched with great interest. Maybe if they paid attention they could look cool and confident, and make lots of friends too!

* * *

"Hey man, what's up?" Minoru asked the yellow haired kid, and the black haired guy with his sleeves rolled up. "My name is Mineta, what's yours?"

"Oh, hey man! Kaminari here! And this guy is Sero!" Kaminari said with a grin. "Dude this is like, intense already! What do you think we're gonna do in the track and field area?"

"I dunno man, but it sounds like we're gonna be doing something physical since we're putting on our gym uniforms." Mineta said with a shrug.

"Aw man! What if we get to do some Hero work right off the bat?!" Sero said excitedly before he looked around and saw Izuku talking with Koda and Ida. "Hey, I think I recognize that kid! He took down the Zero-Pointer!"

"Huh? What's so special about that?" Kaminari asked. Sero looked confused.

"You don't know? The Zero-Pointer was massive!" Sero said. Kaminari raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you're talking about, it wasn't much bigger than the Three-Pointers…" Kaminari said. Sero waved his hands.

"No way man! That thing was towering over the buildings in my area!" Sero said and then pointed at Izuku. "And that guy literally jumped in and stopped it dead in its tracks and toppled it over! It was insane!"

Kaminari gulped. "Holy shit dude… Wait, wasn't he the guy that got fifth place just with rescue points? You sure it's him? Thought he'd look more, I dunno, badass or something…"

Mineta just listened using his size to allow him to be ignored by the conversation and grab the information available. Inwardly, the boy grinned. He had cut back on his pervish ways, but he still wanted to be seen as someone cool, even if it was by proxy.

"You mean you don't know?" Mineta asked innocently. "That guy is way more experienced than he lets on. From what I've found out he has already taken down two really powerful villains… but it's just a rumor so you probably don't want to hear about that…"

Sero and Kaminari looked at each other and leaned in.

"So… like, what have you heard?" Sero asked.

Mineta smiled.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Quirk Assessment Exam!**

* * *

Izuku felt eyes on him as he changed. He was kind of embarrassed. What were they staring at?

Self-consciously, Izuku checked his arms. They had become more defined over his months of training, but… he wasn't that big. Compared to All-Might's powerful muscles, and Simon's overall musculature he was practically microscopic. And he was just generally, smaller than the other boys. He was only five foot three, and not counting Mineta, he was the second shortest kid in class.

The boy frowned. He could hear some of them whispering. He didn't know what they were saying, but he hoped that they weren't talking about him… He really wanted to be friends with everyone.

* * *

"Did you hear? That guy took out like, twenty villains or something!" Kaminari whispered. "He's so good that they had to give him extra points!"

"Are you sure, bro? It sounds kinda hokey…" Kirishima said.

"Look, I'm just saying, he somehow got fifth place on the entrance exam by taking out an entire skyscraper." Kaminari said. "Didn't you hear about his Quirk? He's got some kind of invulnerability!"

"Invulnerability?" Kirishima said eyes wide. A rival?! "You sure?"

"Totally. How else would he have placed so high on the list?"

* * *

Soon, the boys and girls were outside in the brisk April air. Everything seemed to be going fine, but there was a distinct murmur in the air. There were rumors, and depending on how you asked, it led some in the class to already believe that there was a badass in their midst.

Mineta smiled. _'All according plan… All I gotta do is make Midoriya an overpowered badass and then stick next to him, riding that popularity until he is untouchable. Then I won't be bullied ever again…'_

The smaller purple haired boy's face returned to normal as he saw Midoriya, walking beside Koda.

_'Good… He already has a friend… Soon he will be the most popular guy in school.'_ Mineta thought. He frowned at the ground. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't like spreading rumors like this. He was just trying to make sure that he didn't have the same experience in his past few schools.

Yeah, he was perverted and small. That's all everyone ever say in him. Even his parents… His mom skipped out of town leaving him alone with his deadbeat dad. What else was he going to become? What exactly did he have going for himself? His Quirk was literally balls…

He had to train extra hard the last few months just to get up to par to what he thought was Hero level and nearly didn't pass the Entrance Exam because he was too short to actually run fast enough to find targets… He honestly got really lucky all things considered. Still, he had come pretty far…

All because of that kid…

For once, someone had stepped in to help him. Save _him_.

Mineta would do his best to ensure that he was able to help the Izuku conquer the school at the very least… Even if he needed a bit of a push to understand his own greatness…

* * *

Somewhere in a UA staff room, All-Might was going over his notes in his Skele-Might form. He wanted to make sure his lesson plan was really good, he wanted to wow these kids… Still, All-Might was trying to read over the 'How to be an inspiring teacher! For complete idiots!' book, but it didn't seem to have good lesson plans in the sample section for him to steal and make into Hero Lessons…

At one point All-Might had even considered grabbing a Dungeons and Dragons 10E: Hero Edition to see if he could make some of the scenarios work, but decided against it as it focused on having the kids do whatever they wanted and… Actually, that wasn't half a bad idea… Maybe reading over it while knitting would give him some ideas… Heck, UA basically stood for 'Unearthed Arcana'…

_'I wonder if I can find it on that one Audio or something app…'_ All-Might wondered looking up. _'Dammit… what was the name of it? Whatever, I'll probably see an ad for it next time I'm on Yahootube…'_

Setting his lesson plan aside All-Might began looking through the copy of the school registry he had been given to see what teacher his Protégé was given. If the teacher was lazy or wasn't that nice to the class, he feared it would make life in school a living hell for Midoriya… He had so many anxiety problems and he had been reading the 'How to be an inspiring teacher! For complete idiots!' book and found a section about noticing abuse or bullying.

All-Might frowned as he flipped the pages trying to find Class- 1A in the book.

Midoriya was a good kid, a really good kid… He had a heart of gold, basically… But one look at him and you could feel the 'punch me' vibe coming off of him. A few probing questions about the boy's home life had old him everything he needed to know. Apparently, there was some bad blood between the mother and father over a misunderstanding. The boy had been basically abandoned by his father figure, and had experienced bullying at school from both his peers and even his teachers, if the boy's school records were anything to go by.

This made an interesting psychological picture, from what All-Might could tell. He was no expert, especially as just a beginning teacher… but he had his well-tested gut feeling. The boy looked to him as a father figure… and would do practically anything to make others happy. A dangerous combination… All-Might thanked his lucky stars that the kid was still the kind, curious, and just plain heroic young boy.

His home room teacher had to be someone that could pick the boy up when he was feeling down and make sure he didn't push himself too hard to try and please others. No… that wasn't right… Izuku was many things but he didn't really seem to give a damn about how he was perceived. He noticed, of course but he wasn't that concerned with it, even to the point that he was willing to disregard rules and his own safety to save another. What was it that drove this kid? All-Might knew he was a Hero nerd but… It couldn't be…

All-Might face palmed. He was doing that a lot as he went over his teaching book. He had made so many mistakes throughout his life that he was just barely coming to grips with it, but this time nearly broke his brain.

'_Don't tell me…_' All-Might thought, face in his palm. '_He's doing all this… just to be his own Hero?_'

* * *

Izuku was shaking with nervousness. He was hearing whispers behind him and they didn't sound very nice. Izuku thought they were talking about Kacchan for a moment, but then realized that as loud and flashy as he was, there was no way that even Kacchan could get that much attention so quickly. Katsuki stared ahead, seemingly not noticing the whispers.

"Alright, all of you, we will be holding a Quirk Assessment Exam." Aizawa said standing before the entire class.

"A Quirk Assessment Exam?!" and suddenly, the whispers exploded into full on talking. The students weren't expecting this.

"But… Orientation! We're going to miss it!" one said. Izuku turned his head and saw the girl he had tried to save was there. She was pointedly not looking at Izuku, but the boy was just glad she was alright. Izuku slumped. She was cute too…

"Quiet down, all of you." Aizawa said, somehow gaining control of the class once more. It used to take his old teacher nearly five minutes to do that… "If you guys really want to make the big leagues you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies."

'But… don't we need Orientation so we can get the guidebook with not just he school rules, but also to get the map to help us find classes on our first few days…' Izuku thought quietly. He was getting better at the mumbling thing… Kinda…

The rest of the class seemed surprised by this statement, so the teacher elaborated.

"Here at UA we are not tethered to useless traditions. That means I get to run my class as I see fit." Aizawa said. The rest of the students looked increasingly uncomfortable. "Most of your lives you have been taking standardized testing. However, you were not allowed to use your Quirk on the physical fitness test. The government is still trying to make everyone believe that we are all somehow equal, while making sure that those with the most power don't excel at these sort of tests. It's not rational. One day the Ministry of Education will learn. Bakugo! You managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance with a soft ball when you were in Junior High?"

"Sixty-seven meters, I think." Katsuki said. He was clearly not amused by having to waste time proving he was the strongest.

"Give it a try with your Quirk now." Aizawa said tossing him a ball. Seriously, were was he getting all those? "Anything goes, as long as you stay within the circle. Come on, let's go… you're wasting time."

Katsuki looked miffed but walked into the throwing circle to give it his all.

_'I'll add a little heat to my pitch and make all their jaws drop.'_ Katsuki thought._ 'And then maybe I won't have to do the rest of this stupid test…'_

Katsuki wound up, keeping good form and-

"DIE!" Katsuki roared launching the ball until it was only a speck in the sky. Izuku frowned.

'_He improved…'_ Izuku thought, sweating a bit.

Aizawa held up his phone letting them read the numbers.

"Seven-hundred and five meters!?" Several in the class said. Everyone was finally looking more relaxed.

"Oh wow that looks fun!" A very energetic bright pink girl said.

"That's what I'm talking about!" a guy with tape dispensers on his elbows said. "Hero work for days!"

"Yeah! Let's get started!" the guy with the Crimson Riot haircut said. "This is going to be so cool!"

"Cool? Fun?" Aizawa said with a sinister smile. "Idiots! This is a test to see which of you have the stuff to actually be Heroes. Whoever gets in last place during this test will be expelled immediately."

"What!? But teacher, that's not fair!" The brown haired girl said. Aizawa turned around.

"And natural disasters are fair?" Aizawa countered silencing their protests. "Are power hungry villains fair? How about disasters that level entire cities? Are any of those things 'fair'? We are Heroes. We try to mitigate and combat that unfairness as much as possible, but there are still things that will just naturally be 'unfair'. Most of you will be UA students bar one. You will have three years here of one hardship one after the other. It's best to get used to disappointment and failure now, before you can no longer afford to…"

The class was silent but each of them were having their own thoughts. Mostly thoughts of 'oh shit this is for real' and 'I don't know if I can do this' or even more accurate in some cases 'I hope the last one isn't me…'.

For our Hero however, one thought came into his mind.

Izuku turned to look at his new friend Koda and his older friend Mineta.

'I have to figure out a way to help Koda and Mineta pass… Actually…' Izuku thought scanning his class. He already wanted to help everyone pass.

Now… just how to accomplish that…

To his surprise, he already knew the answer.

* * *

First test!

Side to Side Hops!

Izuku subtly grew a bone, no bigger than a pen and sat down, ready to scribble down notes in the dirt and muttering up a storm. Some of the other students were already starting to edge away from him, but Izuku didn't pay that any mind.

He watched as the others were grouped up to perform the exercise. The tall glasses kid, named Ida- he had learned that when they were introduced-, prepared to run. Izuku watched intently, seeing the engine exhaust pipes coming out of the boy's calves. Ida… and exhaust pipes… Why did that ring a bell?

Izuku watched as the competition continued. Ida should have been, by far, the fastest, but it seemed he was the most careful. Despite his speed and quick footwork, it seemed he had a bit of trouble when his movements weren't as precise. Izuku frowned listening to the scores, still muttering.

"Dude… whatcha workin' on?" Mineta asked.

"Oh! Mineta! Sorry if I wasn't paying attention!" Izuku said looking down over the notes he had worked on drawing in the dirt. "I'm trying to figure out if everyone in class can make it."

"Huh?" Mineta asked looking at the scribbles in the dirt. "This is…"

"Hero Analysis." Izuku said with a shrug. "I do it for a hobby. See, Ida, that guy in the glasses has a Quirk I think I've seen before. Looks like he can produce force of some kind from his legs, and his calves have an exhaust pipes. He will probably be good in the long distance run, the long jump, and depending if he does it well, he should be pretty good at the ball toss…"

"Um… how?" Mineta asked. "I mean-"

"Oh that's simple." Izuku said. "The teacher said, 'anything goes as long as you stay in the circle'. I figure that his legs would be his best way for him to propel the ball since the goal has been simplified to 'get the ball as far out there as you can' instead of 'toss the ball as far as you can."

"So you're saying that this Ida guy should punt the ball like a soccer ball…" Mineta said thoughtfully. A whistle blew. "Oh shit… it's my turn next, any ideas for me?"

"Um, what's your Quirk?" Izuku asked.

"I got these balls on my head. They stick to practically anything, but they don't stick to me for some reason." Mineta said quickly. He would go on to tell the boy more of the specifics, like how they were pretty bouncy in his hands and how he could make them last longer if he was in good health.

Izuku smiled.

* * *

"That guy who people have been talking about…" Kaminari said. "You really think he's, like, a badass?"

"Why you askin'?" Sero asked.

"Well… Now that I'm getting a better look at him… He seems kinda…" Kaminari trailed off.

"Kinda what?" Sero asked with a raised brow.

"Kinda strange. He doesn't you know, act like a badass... In fact he seems almost cute- I mean, you know like, no homo and all that! But he's got that you know… vibe? I don't know." Kaminari said. Seeing Sero's amused face Kaminari began to panic. "Man, I don't swing that way! I ain't playin around!"

"Sure bro…" Sero said with a smug grin. He totally had some dirt on for later… "But I feel you. He's got… something. I don't know what it is yet though…"

They watched as Mineta, that little purple gremlin, tossed his balls onto the ground and then used that shit as springboards for him to bounce between them. He reached an obscene number of hops. Afterward, they saw him high- low five the 'cute kid'. Apparently, the guy had made up the strategy…

Kaminari and Sero looked at each other. Sero let out a low whistle.

"Your boyfriend is pretty good- Ywouch!" Sero yelped as Kaminari gave him a sharp jolt to his ribs. "Okay fine! Jeez…"

* * *

Izuku lined up with Katsuki and wondered for a brief second how the hell were they ordered? Maybe student id number? He still didn't know how a 'Mineta' was racing next to an 'Ida'. Maybe they were doing it by first name? But then, why was that pink Ashido girl and that Aoyama guy in nearly the same lane? Hmm…

"Go!" The little robot helper proclaimed happily and Izuku suddenly go serious. His face became shadowed, possibly by the boy's crazy hair, and his eyes seemed to glow white as he began to demolish the test.

Izuku was a blur of movement, alternating his feet at high speed.

He had done something like this exercise fighting with Simon.

A shiver ran up his spine and nearly through off his tempo remembering Simon's 'dodging training'...

* * *

Kaminari and Sero stared as the 'cute' and 'adorable' badass moved as fast as that purple gremlin… without using his Quirk…

"I… um… that's…" Kaminari said.

"Hot?" Sero asked with a sly grin.

"Dude! Shut! UP!" Kaminari stage whispered and threatening with sparkly fingers.

"Dude… I was about to say, 'no homo'… but if you think he's hot, who am I to judge-? Ywouch!" Sero said. "Jeez man… take a joke…"

* * *

Elsewhere, Katsuki and Kaminari, as well as a few others, also watched this display.

"Alright… Now I know why he's considered a badass…" Sato said crossing his arms. "Seems like he'd be a good rival for me-"

"H-how... How is he this strong? How many push-ups did he do?! How many sit-ups?! **WHAT KIND OF JUICE DID HE DRINK?!**" Katsuki roared, thoroughly freaked out.

"Bro, you okay?" Kirishima asked. Katsuki was beginning to hyper ventilate and was glaring murderously at the, admittedly pretty badass green teen. "Why are you so freaked out?"

Katsuki looked like he was about to murder Kirishima. "Don't you understand? That means he's been holding back this entire time! He never gave it his all and is making me look like a fool!"

Kirishima didn't really get it at first and then suddenly it clicked. "No way! Is that guy your rival-?!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Katsuki said loudly. "He is nothing! Especially after all this shit and-"

"No way! He's totally your rival!" Kirishima said excitedly. "That's so manly! Oh hey! Looks like we're up next!"

Katsuki glowered at him. He then realized that he felt like his personal confidence in himself had taken a blow and began to mentally go over the confidence reinforcement statements his counselor had showed him. He took deep breaths, counted to ten, and then back down…

_'I am safe… I am secure in my surroundings… I am secure in myself… Everything is going to be okay… I am still good enough, even if others do well… I am in my happy place and… relax…'_ Katsuki thought to himself as he tried to find his 'calm' center. _'It does no good to be so tense… I do better when I relax and am comfortable…'_

Finally, Katsuki relaxed and focused on his goal. He found his Zen, and he was prepared for anything. Not like he had anything to worry about to begin with. He was still the best guy here by a long shot.

"Psht… Whatever… So he can hop side to side, big deal, I could go faster…" Katsuki muttered. He then froze suddenly clutched his head and yelling, "**SHIT! THAT BASTARD HAS ME MUTTERING NOW TOO!**"

Idly, Izuku looked up from his notes, then looked back down trying to calm his own nerves. There were people gathered around him reading the notes he had scratched into the dirt and taking notes for themselves.

This was going to be one hell of an exam…


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Rumor has it...**

* * *

Mineta winced hearing what Izuku wanted to do. He was cool getting help from the boy since he had asked but…

"You want me to help spread tips on how to use their Quirks?" Mineta asked. "I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Why not though?" Izuku asked. "With some of these ideas, I pretty sure I can help some people pass."

Mineta facepalmed. "Midoriya, you're a good guy, but I don't think you understand. You are trying to give tips to people who got into UA. It's not bad if they come to you asking for advice, but if you just hand it out to them, it takes away from the years of training and practicing some of these guys did."

Izuku looked ready to argue but Mineta held up a finger. "And if they get the wrong idea, you could come off really disrespectful. You saw these guy's Quirks for, what? Two minutes tops? They probably know a bit more about their own Quirk than you, and some have certain ideas that they are not comfortable doing. It wasn't a bad idea but… maybe only help people who need saving, you know?"

Izuku frowned, but nodded. He was just going to need to find another way to help people pass.

* * *

All-Might palmed his face in his hands. "Ugh… He got Aizawa… He'll be singled out from the start!"

The Symbol of Peace could just see it now. They'd have to do that insane fitness test thing Aizawa did, and then he'd expel the entire class. He had a track record for doing so, which by itself was alarming, but the test was just plain unfair to certain groups. Emitter and Transformation types in particular, while Mutant Types tended to have an edge since most Mutant types couldn't help but use their Quirks in private. Not to mention almost none of these kid knew much about their own Quirks due to laws surrounding using Quirks in public.

It would be like a muggleborn in Harry Potter verses a pureblood with family connections. Unless the Emitters and Transformation types had practiced their Quirks in small ways, many of them would have to rely on what they already knew to do, sacrificing using their quirks for regular motion, and watch others go far ahead of them. All-Might groaned.

And then there was the fact that Izuku couldn't really use his Quirks normally. Both injured him to even use, meaning he'd be more inclined to stick with his normal physical strength and endurance rather than his Quirks. If he tried using either one, he'd be forced to recover and that might put a strain on-

All-Might shook his head to snap out of it.

No. He was going to believe in his protégé… Besides, All-Might knew of once ace in the hole that he hadn't told Midoriya because it was only a hunch really.

If One for All could make a Quirkless nobody like Toshinori Yagi into All-Might the Symbol of Peace by upping his strength, durability, speed, and stamina… His own natural abilities…

All-Might wondered what would happen if you took that same strength, durability, speed, and stamina increase and added it to Izuku's already physically impressive Quirk? Simply… Izuku would maybe become stronger than All-Might in his prime…

* * *

_Second Test!_

_Fifty-Meter Dash!_

Izuku got into a starting position and imagined there was All-Might as five-hundred and sixty pound weight on his back for this one. He remembered when he had first carried the man a full mile and was sore for the next two days. Now, he could carry the man almost five miles. He thanked his bones and healing factor for that one…

So when Izuku heard the happy little 'Go!' from the drone, he booked it. He was tearing up the dirt beneath him, partially due to his surprisingly heavy weight for one his size, and partially due to the boy putting his all into his form and leg muscles.

"Three- point-thirteen seconds!" The robot happily cheered. Izuku panted slightly but he eventually cooled down and found a lady handing out water bottles.

"Could I… get one of those?" Izuku asked, still a little tired. "Also, do you have any granola?"

The lady had seemed a bit cold at first, but smiled. "These came from my Quirk, is that alright?"

Izuku looked at her with bleary eyes. Sweat stung his eyes, but it was nothing he wasn't already used to. Just a little annoying.

"Lady, I am the last person who would complain about that sort of thing." Izuku said trying to keep his voice even. He was talking to a girl now, but he was too exhausted to care at the moment. "Our Quirks are a bit similar, but yours is way more useful."

The lady smiled a bit brighter. "Alright. My name is Momo Yaoyozuru."

"Izuku Midoriya, Ms. Yaoyozuru." Izuku said, taking the water and granola with care. "Thanks!"

* * *

Momo was pretty sure she was blushing. She talked to a boy in a casual interaction! Correction. She had a casual interaction with a boy her own age! She had always dreamed of being less formal and having fun and-! Wait! No! Concentrate Momo!

The tall girl tried to watch impartially as she watched more people get ready for the Fifty Meter Dash. Momo shuffled a bit, however, wondering how the boy would react if she had told him that she only had the water bottles from trying to drop water weight for the next few tasks… Her body could make several steel items at a time, water was no problem. Neither was the granola, but it was the first time she had made food and it turned out decently. If it tasted awful, then would Midoriya tell her, right? What if she could make snacks for her friends?!

The girl beamed. She might make friends! They could go to the mall (even though her father probably owned a good share of the stocks of any mall), they could braid each other's hair (it was different than a maid doing it, Momo was sure), and they could talk about… things… (boys mostly, what kisses felt like, and- other very important things that were probably too private to mention!).

Momo paused. Wait-! If she could make granola, an organic substance, then that could mean she could make medicine! The girl looked down at her hands. She could also probably make poison… or acid, or any number of things…

Momo then looked up realizing what she had just made. Water… Water was extremely simple! Two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen! It was much less complex that the ratio of iron to carbon that she had to visualize to get the right steel for the job…

Or she could probably just make carbon… She had been reading old theories about carbon nanotubes… It was available today with modern technology, but the process was extremely difficult…

The girl began muttering to herself about the possible combinations she could make…

* * *

_Third Test!_

_Grip Test!_

Izuku stared at the machine he had just broken. It was supposed to test one's grip strength, even for super powered beings… however, it had one key flaw in it's design. It wasn't meant for someone like Izuku.

He had seen the guy with six arms grab one with three hands and… well… he figured it was probably okay to use both of his hands as well…

Izuku might have also accidently used One for All trying to squeeze it hard enough... His hands felt a little bruised and his arm muscles felt like they were on fire.

He had trained with grip trainers before, but he found them more helpful for train endurance rather than actual strength training. If he wanted that, he would just wait for it to rain and try to load a refrigerator into the trash truck. The worst thing he had to load by himself was a six hundred pound gun safe. Honestly, they were in Japan. Where the hell did some get a gun safe? Why would they have a gun safe?

Trash also required him to have an obscene level of grip, especially after high tide and he was forced to try and pull things out of the wet sand…

Needless to say, Izuku had what he thought was a decently strong grip and… it broke in his hands…

Wait… did he need to pay the school back for breaking this? It _was_ school property after all…

Izuku had no idea.

* * *

"…Holy shit…" Ojiro said to no one in particular.

"He got a higher score than me…" Shoji said similarly impressed. "Looks like these things top out at six hundred PSI…"

"R-really?" Ojiro asked.

"That guy's a monster." Tsuyu remarked bluntly, and the rumors spread from there.

* * *

_Fourth Test!_

_Long jump!_

The boy questioned whether or not this was a good idea. While was allowed to use his Quirk, this sort of thing was kinda…

"Sir?" Izuku asked.

"Hmm? What is it?" Aizawa asked.

"If any part of me touches the sand, am I disqualified?" Izuku asked.

"Yes." Aizawa said.

"What about if something made from my Quirk touches the sand? Would that get me disqualified?" Izuku asked. Aizawa narrowed his eyes.

"As long as it is the result of your Quirk, it won't count." Aizawa said. "Hurry up."

Izuku nodded, braced himself and- grew spikes out of the bottom of his feet.

Aizawa's eyes widened, realizing what the boy was going to do. He then walked across the sand, his feet not touching the sand in the slightest and arriving safely across to the other side at his own pace.

Aizawa facepalmed.

He had just made stilts using his Quirk and walked across…

"Next time, you are disqualified if you do that." Aizawa said. The boy nodded.

"Do you want me to do it again?" Izuku asked. "I could probably make a bridge or maybe a long one to pole jump across-"

"No. You're done." Aizawa said quickly as the boy began to mutter to himself.

'_This kid is going to be the death of me…'_ Aizawa thought. He glanced and saw the gears turn in Yaoyozuru's head, and also in Todoroki's.

Aizawa felt a headache coming on.

* * *

"He is so cheeky to the teacher!" Toru said excitedly. "He's like some kind of bad boy!"

"I dunno… that kind of disrespect could mean he's dangerous…" Mina said thoughtfully. "Hey Urarara! Do you know anything about him?"

Ochako suddenly looked ill. "He's definitely… unpredictable…"

Mina and Toru looked at each other noting Ochako's discomfort, and not the 'I'm in Love' kind either.

It was like someone had grossed her out to the point she was trying not hurl.

What the hell did that bastard do to such a sweet girl?!

* * *

_Fifth Test!_

_Toe Touch!_

Izuku had his palms touching the bottoms of his feet like some sort of over flexible freak of nature. He could probably put his feet behind his head…

Inwardly, Izuku was crying, thinking about all the times Simon had turned his body into a pretzel with a combination of Sambo, Judo, and Brazilian Jujitsu the man had thrown into their work outs 'for fun'.

That combined with the Capoeira training, some stretches All-Might had taught him, so he didn't hurt himself weightlifting, and a lot of self-training, left Izuku with a surprisingly flexible body.

Izuku whimpered some, remembering his time under the torture- care of his two trainers, was just thankful that he was flexible enough. Izuku had made sure he had gotten warmed up properly, but at the moment he felt little over heated. He had taken off his shirt so he could breathe properly and was enjoying the cool air on his skin despite the warmth his bones were generating. (A little trick he had picked up to get ready faster.)

He was a little self-conscious though. He had some scars from the episode with the Zero-Pointer that hadn't completely faded yet and he felt they were pretty embarrassing.

* * *

'_Shit… I can see his abs now_!' Jiro thought, covering her eyes, but peeked through her fingers. What stood out to her more than anything, even though his physique was _very _nice, were the scars on his body. They were well healed, and there weren't too many of them, but-

"Wait-! Are those knife and bullet holes?!" Jiro asked to herself, but a few picked up on what she said.

"Knife and bullet holes?" Tokoyami asked with wide eyes. "So, he is a hunter of the night…"

"You think he's Yakuza or some kind of vigilante?" Jiro asked curiously.

"How else would he obtain such scarring?" Tokoyami asked seriously.

* * *

_Sixth test!_

_Long Distance Run!_

Izuku was running besides the pink girl and overtaking her on the run. Actually, he was overtaking everyone. He was on lap three out of four around the running track and was feeling overheated again, but hadn't quite broken a sweat yet. He did need some more granola and water from Ms. Yaoyozuru, but other than that, he was doing pretty well energy wise. He had just needed to worry about over-heating.

Izuku solved this by taking his shirt off. He did a lot on the beach, especially in the summer, and while it was a bit cold, Izuku was also making a fair bit of heat, causing him to steam in the morning air. He was embarrassed to take his shirt off at first, but that was quickly forgotten after the first lap.

Now on the forth lap, Izuku shrugged and booked it, racing Katsuki for the finish line.

Katsuki was still ahead, but he was getting faster and faster to make sure he didn't fall behind, and that was apparently taking a toll on the boy as he appeared to be giving it his all just to stay ahead.

Izuku passed the finish line roughly two seconds behind Katsuki and one second behind a boy Izuku learned was named Ojiro. Katsuki looked like he was trying very hard not to explode. Izuku turned awkwardly and jogged to the spot he had torn off his shirt once more. He jogged in the opposite direction of Katsuki, not quite willing to face the boy's wrath just yet.

* * *

"He's a freak." Katsuki muttered gruffly when he was asked what he knew about Deku. Honestly, why were they asking about that shitty loser? "A total loser… Bastard probably cheated to get into this school… **SHIT! WHY THE HELL AM I MUMBLING!?**"

Mina and Toru looked at each other once more, as Katsuki went somewhere to work on his deep breathing exercises. This new info combined with some other news that they had heard, this Izuku Midoriya person was sounding really dangerous!

Disrespecting teachers, knife and bullet wounds, taking down Villains before even coming to school, probably cheating to get in according to someone from his middle school, and whatever he did to poor Urararaka that made her nauseous just thinking about it led them both to only one conclusion.

Izuku Midoriya, was obviously some kind of thug!

* * *

Mineta was sweating now. He had tried to put out that Midoriya was a nice guy, super swell, and would be a great hero one day, but that wasn't what he was hearing! Curse the human mind and it's tendencies to hang on to negative information better!

"_He's some kind of thug! Didn't you see the scars?"_

"_Urarara won't even talk about what he did to her! Just thinking about it makes her queasy!"_

"_He's Bakugo's rival, right? It sounds like he did something to offend Bakugo and is walking around like he doesn't even care!"_

"_He's a monster… Why the hell is he here at UA?"_

Mineta slumped to the ground. He wanted to be friends with best of the best! Now what was he gonna do?!

The boy picked himself back up. He was too deep in now. His perfect Highschool career was banking on this and he knew Midoriya had the stuff.

He began to cook up a plan…

* * *

_Seventh Test!_

_Pull-Ups!_

Izuku was once again surprised at how many of these he could do. This felt like the muscles he used to carry up things to the top of a trash pile or when he needed to pull on something to bring it down. He was having a slightly more difficult time doing these though. His weight was something of a weakness for him. He only managed to do fifty of these things before his arm got tired, but apparently this was a pretty high number… You were supposed to do this with one arm right?

The boy just hoped Mineta was doing okay. The boy seemed really winded after the Long- Distance Run, and Izuku had seen that this test was pretty difficult. The invisible girl just seemed to hang there, not able to pull up he own body weight. He really hoped that they would reach their goal, and nobody would be left behind!

* * *

"Geez… That guy's just flexing all over the place…" Sero said. "Sorry your boyfriend turned out to be a thug…"

"Gah! Quit saying that! For real man!" Kaminari said scratching his head furiously. "I just don't understand! His face is like a girl's, but his body is like a really short gym rat on steroids! Seriously! What the hell is up with that?!"

"I don't know… It is pretty confusing." Sero said watching as the boy did perfect one armed pull-ups like it was nothing. How ripped did you have to be to do all that? "So do you believe all those rumors?"

Kaminari straitened up. "Nah man… I haven't even really seen his 'Super Special Awesome Ultra Special Super' Quirk. I mean… He makes spikes right? Like how we saw on the long distance jump?"

Sero thought about it.

"If the rumors are true… that means he took down a giant skyscraper sized robot with spikes…" Sero said with a raised eyebrow. Kaminari slumped.

"I don't know what to believe anymore…" Kaminari pouted.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Sparks Fly**

* * *

_Final Test!_

_Softball Throw!_

Izuku gulped as he thought about how he was going to do this. The nice brown-haired girl he had helped in the entrance exam got an 'infinity' on her throw because she threw the ball out of orbit. Izuku however, was pretty sure it wasn't infinite. There was still a pretty good chance of the ball hitting a satellite or something. It wasn't common knowledge, but the earth did have rings like Saturn, but it was made of trash instead.

Something in Izuku's mind seemed to snap in place as he contemplated being an astronaut and cleaning up all the trash surrounding the earth. Maybe even help with the Martian colonization! It was still being debated, but they have the technology now to set something up on another planet. Just a little terraforming and he could even help clean the Martian beaches of trash… Maybe his true calling in life was a trash truck driver…

"Midoriya, you're up next!" Aizawa said making Izuku snap out of his momentary daydream. Right… Fitness Test… He slumped. Maybe he had been picking up trash for too long… This was getting ridiculous…

Izuku squared up his shoulders as people gave him weird looks. What where they staring at? Maybe he had stood out too much? Izuku thought about it and decided that since this was the last test anyways, he could probably just do his best and-

"Midoriya, a word." Aizawa said motioning for him to come closer. Izuku wandered over and watched as Aizawa pinned a hard stare at him. "Is this some sort of joke to you?"

Izuku was taken aback. "Wha-?!"

"Have you misunderstood what this test was about?" Aizawa asked. "I thought I made it clear beforehand, but we are not testing you physical capabilities. This is a Quirk Apprehension Test. The purpose of it is to find out a little more about your Quirk and help us try to figure out where you are at in mastering your abilities. So far, you have used your Quirk _once_ and have shown that you prefer using your physical strength to over come obstacles. This is fine, but you are missing the point of this test. I assume I have made myself clear?"

"Um… Sir, about that… My Quirk-" Izuku began but quickly trailed off as Aizawa spoke up again.

"I know that you are a reckless idiot, and that your Quirk causes you discomfort." Aizawa said bluntly. "You have potential, but there is a fine line between recklessness and Heroics. Right now, you are holding back too much. I know that you are stronger than this, but I also know that it comes at a cost. You are a bit like another reckless idiot I know, but he at least has the skills to back it up."

"What do you want me to do?" Izuku asked feeling a little helpless.

"Show me what you really got." Aizawa said. "I need to know how badly you'll hurt yourself when using your Quirk before I consider you for this class. Last time you got crushed by a Giant Robot, but you also tipped it. I want to see you giving me all you got, as if you were in a real battle."

Izuku nodded slowly. "Got it…"

* * *

"What do you think their talking about?" Jiro asked.

"I don't know… maybe he's trying to weed him out of his class?" Toru asked.

"Maybe… but he seems to be giving him a chance. Maybe he wants to help reform him into an upstanding member of society." Mina said.

"You think he has a shot?" Jiro asked. "I mean, he's been doing pretty well so far…"

"You forget that this is a Quirk Apprehension Test." Ida said behind them. "While he has preformed admirably, I think he forgot to use his Quirk to complete the assignment as instructed."

"Um, hello?" Toru asked scathingly. "Some of us have really useful Quirks that have nothing to do with strength, speed, or jumping ability…"

Jiro twirled on of her jacks around her finger. Her Quirk was pretty powerful, but it was kinda useless in this test…

"Maybe that guy has a Quirk kinda like us…" Jiro asked. "It'd make sense why he relies so much on his um… physique…"

"That may be the case, but I believe Mr. Aizawa is much more of a literal person." Ida said. "It might be that you guys will get a lower score if you don't use your Quirks, but I think it is fairly safe to say that Midoriya is much worse off because of his over reliance on physical skills."

"But isn't that kinda unfair?" Mina asked. "I mean, the guy's bad news, but… come on… How are we supposed to showcase Quirks we are barely allowed to use? Like, do you really think that I or that Bakugo guy are allowed to use our Quirks in public? Acid and Explosions are not exactly safe to use around people..."

Ida thought about it. "I see your point. Perhaps his over-reliance on his physical skills are because his Quirk is too flashy to use in public or too dangerous to use in private… I hadn't thought of that."

Mina and Toru looked at each other. More like Mina looked in the general direction of Toru since it was kinda hard to meet her eyes…

"So his Quirk is like, uber dangerous?" Toru asked dubiously. "What can he do exactly?"

"As far as I know he has some sort of Spike Growth Quirk. Ah! If his Quirk is Spike Growth that would explain why he isn't using his Quirk." Ida said. The girls looked at him questioningly. "I meant to say, perhaps Midoriya's Quirk isn't exactly conducive to these exercises, but he compensates for this by being obscenely athletic."

"So you're saying he is jacked as hell because his Quirk isn't a good fit for every situation?" Mina asked. Ida nodded.

"From what I can tell, he seems most comfortable with close quarters combat, but lacks experience in intercepting targets over a large area." Ida said.

_'So, basically street fighting…_' Mina and Toru thought with a sweat drop. Maybe Jiro was right, and he was some kind of street fighter with all those knife and bullet wounds…

"So, like… what do you think he's going to do?" Toru asked.

* * *

Izuku had no idea what he was doing. His enrollment at UA was on the line, so he needed to go all out, but it sounded like if he pushed too far and injured himself, he'd be expelled anyway. It was really quite confusing.

He began to warm up his bones quietly to comfort himself. It was a nervous tick he had.

He squared up and got ready to pitch the ball.

As Izuku was throwing the ball, he felt less warmth and more of the liquid lightning that was One for All surge across his skin. Izuku panicked and tried to limit it, but it still surged through him like water under pressure.

His hand exploded.

Not literally, but suddenly the softball exploded out of his hand and he had suddenly chucked the ball a good distance away.

"Two-hundred and seventy meters!" the drone happily chimed.

Izuku finally breathed. What the heck was that?! His only memory of using One for All was fighting the Zero-Pointer, but now he just up and used it and-

"Midoriya, you're hand is sparking." Aizawa said. Izuku looked down. Yup… it was sparking… and… Yup… It was hurting like crazy. It felt like his hand had been slammed in the subway door. No- worse! And it was tingly and weird and-!

Suddenly, the tingles went away, and his hand stopped sparking. Mr. Aizawa's hair was standing on end and hovering menacingly as his eyes glowed red.

Izuku's eyes widened in recognition. "No way! You're the Underground Hero, Eraserhead! Your Quirk is turning off other people's Quirks and-"

"Enough chit chat." Aizawa said bluntly. Izuku wilted. He and Denis would probably get along swimmingly… "Is your hand injured?"

"Ah… yeah a little bit…" Izuku said honestly. "But I have a healing factor so it should be-"

"**DEKU!**" Katsuki roared stomping out to the pitcher's mound, hand crackling. "**YOU ASSHOLE! YOU HAD THAT STRONG OF A QUIRK THIS WHOLE TIME?!**"

"Kacchan!" Izuku jumped as Katsuki approached and was suddenly wrapped up in the weird scarf Eraserhead was- No way! That was the super useful capture weapon that Eraserhead used to catch bad guys!

He was suddenly jealous of Katsuki. If he got to be wrapped up like that he would probably be extremely honored and wonder if he could see any bloodstains from Eraserhead's famous fight with the monster known as Garvey-!

"No attacking other students." Aizawa said in a miffed tone. He released Katsuki and returned his Quirk. "Don't cause so much trouble, it gives me a bad case of dry eye…"

'_That's the only reason?_' most of the class wondered. Izuku was too busy fanboying to notice.

"What was that Quirk?" Aizawa questioned in the same demanding tone as earlier. "I don't think I recall seeing it in your Quirk registry papers…"

"To be honest? I got it just before the Entrance Exam." Izuku said suddenly, too busy thinking about the fact that Eraserhead was asking him a question to remember that his Quirk was supposed to be kept on the downlow. Izuku gulped. "I-I mean… I just…"

"So you used a secondary Quirk to cheat…" Katsuki began to mutter, but seemed to catch himself and scowled deeper.

"Were you aware of this Quirk before the Entrance Exam?" Aizawa demanded.

"Um… not really… I think it's because… um…" Izuku stuttered out. "I started training to get into UA. I was kind of a late bloomer see, but um… I felt something different, but I didn't really realize it was a Quirk until the Entrance Exam when I…"

"Jumped in front of a Giant Robot. I see…" Aizawa said. "Well, it can't be helped. Register this new Quirk development by the end of the week. And you…"

Katsuki looked up from his angry scowling.

"If you think that kind of behavior is going to fly in my class, or any class for that matter, I will suspend you on the spot. I don't care if you did finish in first place, you will be punished with the full authority that I have." Aizawa said. "Is that clear?"

Katsuki nodded tersely. "Yeah. I get it…"

"Good." Aizawa said and turned to the rest of them. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Izuku gulped, not sure if he passed or failed.

* * *

All-Might sweat dropped hiding behind the corner of a building. He had gotten so anxious thinking of how Izuku was doing that he had snuck out and watched the final test go down. Honestly, he hadn't expected this…

It was true that Izuku was only 'half-trained', but All-Might thought that Izuku would be able to control it immediately like he did when he first acquired One for All. He expected some ticks along the way, but he was sure the boy would be able to handle it.

This wasn't how it was supposed to work. It was like One for All had started powering up fully, but then Izuku had panicked and tried to shut it off part-way. He had done something similar trying to hold back perfectly against certain foes. The lightning around the boy was a different color than his own, but it was basically the same thing…

What worried him, however, was that even that small amount seemed to cause some damage to the boy… Izuku's hand was bright red and was beginning to swell a little. The connective tissue…

Not for the first time, All-Might was grateful for the boy's healing factor. If he kept breaking his hand like that, then he could run into some trouble using his hands for basic writing and other things.

Well, whatever Izuku was going through… He'd be there every step of the way.

* * *

The scores were up. Izuku scanned hologram for his name and was a little only a little surprised to see his name down near the bottom. While his overall score was high, he had misunderstood the test and probably got a low score for his lack of Quirk usage. When he saw who was on the bottom of the list, his heart seemed to go out to her.

Toru Hagakure was trembling a little. While Izuku was worried for Mineta as well since he was the second lowest score, he himself was the third lowest, Hagakure was still the bottom of the list…

Right… her Quirk wasn't exactly suited for combat, and it didn't help her much in completing the tasks assigned. She basically failed the test by default. Something about this whole situation was frustrating him to no end.

She tried her best and worked hard, he was sure, but she still wasn't good enough… just like he had been.

"Sir, I-" Izuku began to speak up. Aizawa however, just turned off the holoscreen.

"By the way, I was lying about expelling anyone." Aizawa said bluntly. "It was merely a logical ruse to ensure you were all preforming your best."

"WHAT?!" Everyone, including Hagakure shouted.

"Oh… I figured that out a while ago." Momo said. "I guess I should have spoken up."

"You think!?" Toru exclaimed. It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "I thought I was a goner!"

"Whew… talk about intense!" Kirishima said excitedly.

"I'm not done." Aizawa said, and immediately the class shut up. "Good. Anyways, I just wanted to say that those at the bottom five are probably going to be on the chopping block if I need to expel anyone. Keep up or go home."

Izuku and the rest on the bottom of the list gulped. He never felt more invigorated to do his homework…

* * *

From his hiding place All-Might sweat dropped at the bold face lie Aizawa told them. He had expelled all of last year's class at the drop of a hat… But, if Aizawa was willing to give them a chance, maybe the man saw the same potential as he did… All-Might coughed, and wiped the corner of his mouth. Blood…

Right… he was pushing it with his time limit as it was… he needed to get back into the teacher's lounge and transform back. He didn't need to be seen hanging around here. Still… he was proud of his protégé. He had worked hard for his spot in the class.

* * *

So, apparently there were shared showers in UA. Not exactly what Izuku had thought of the world's premiere Hero school, but Izuku couldn't help but wonder if there was anything more, you know… private… so Izuku could have a bit of a nervous breakdown.

His nerves were still up from the mildly traumatic experience that was the ball toss and the subsequent ratings. He knew UA was intense from the Entrance Exam, but this was some kind of weird psychological torture. Izuku just wanted a nice quiet stall to take a shower in peace and not have to worry about people whispering about his scars… He was still really self-conscious about that.

Izuku had changed in the classroom but everyone had been nervous then. Now, the blonde guy was chasing down someone named 'Sero' with a twisted up towel that was sparking mildly, the really tall kid still hadn't removed his mask, and that guy with the red hair was trying to chat up Katsuki with limited success.

Koda, Izuku saw, was having a similar experience to him. He looked so nervous, Izuku couldn't help putting aside his own nervousness to try and help the big guy out.

Well… he was about to, when he was confronted by a very large and very naked guy who looked more in his thirties rather than in his teenage years. The guy was still nowhere near All-Might level in musculature, but he was probably about as big as Simon, and had huge lips and hair that was slicked back with water and sweat.

"So… you're the guy everyone has been talking about?" The massive teen asked. Izuku tried to keep his face neutral. He was trying to help keep Koda calm.

"If you say so." Izuku said, trying to remember how to be bold, but not impolite. What he got sounded like a 'what's it to ya' sort of tone. He mentally winced. That wasn't what he was going for, but he couldn't show fear here.

He was the inheritor of One for All after all, and it didn't suit someone entrusted with that power to look afraid. No matter how much their entire face and muscles looked like he was about to say, 'I will break you'.

The teen looked unimpressed but held out a hand. "Nice ta meetcha, name's Sato."

Izuku took the hand and was immediately surprised by the boy's grip strength. Not wanting to give the guy an improper limp fish handshake, Izuku squeezed back and- sparks flew.

Izuku's eyes widened as One for All's power leapt up his arm and nearly crushed the other guy's hand. The teen began to sweat as his muscles rippled shifting into something much more muscular and Izuku felt the pressure back on, but it was quickly waning, and he heard the boy grunt in pain, his eyes beginning to water.

The boy released the other teen's hand like it was a hot iron. Izuku stared at his hand. It was still sparking with power.

"Sorry about that." Izuku said trying to play it off with a smile. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength!"

Sato gave the boy a look of grudging respect. Izuku finally noticed that they had an audience.

"It's okay, I didn't put my back into it." Sato said clenching and unclenching his hand. "G-good meeting you…"

"Ah… same…" Izuku said returning to his shower. There he saw Mineta looking at him with wide eyes. "Um… what?"

"Dude… you just out strength checked a guy with a strength boosting Quirk." Mineta said in awe. He shook his head and tried to focus back on his shower despite the whispers building behind him.

"Could we talk about something else?" Izuku asked irritably. His nervousness was reaching a high point as he realized that he had messed up a social interaction. He felt terrible for crushing the other guy's hand and he just needed to take his mind off of it and finish his shower.

"Um…" Mineta said as he watched Izuku sparking up a storm. The guy's nervousness was coming off of him like static. Despite knowing that Izuku was a nice guy, he felt what could only be described as the pressure you felt in the back of your head when you met someone really strong and really mean.

So, suitably frightened, Mineta said the first thing that came to his mind.

"There's a lot of hotties in our class." Mineta said. Izuku just looked at him. Mineta began to sweat but tried to explain. "I mean, all girls a pretty in some way but… um… there's just… um… something about female Heroes, am I right?"

Izuku slowly relaxed and tried to take deep breaths. "Yeah, there are a lot of pretty girls in our class…"

"Anyone catch your eye? How about that tall girl with the smoking bod, or that brown haired girl with the figure?" Mineta asked and immediately regretted it. He had been so good with not saying perverted crap and now he was going back into his old habits.

'_Gosh dang it brain! Say non-perverted things!_' Mineta mentally yelled at himself.

'_NEVER!_' his brain responded in typical fashion. Sometimes Mineta really hated his brain…

Izuku paused his scrubbing. Mineta began feel a cold sweat under his own hot shower.

"You mean Miss Yaoyarozu?" Izuku asked. Mineta blinked.

"Um… yeah?" Mineta replied, not sure if it was the dark haired one or the brown haired one. Izuku looked like he was blushing, and the energy field sparking like crazy around him seemed to amplify.

"We just met, so I wouldn't get my hopes up. She is really pretty though." Izuku said face flushed. "I mean, who do you like?"

Mineta's brain finally calmed down enough to think about the girl's in his class in a non-superficial way.

"I think I'm gonna find romance outside the class." Mineta said finally. Izuku looked surprised. "I would like my time in this class to be professional. Dating within a class always leads to drama and I don't think we need that at this point in our lives. I mean, we're trying to be Heroes right? Why would you wanna add something like dating to the mix?"

Izuku thought about it. "I'm glad we feel the same way…"

Mineta nodded along, noticing that the more he talked the more Izuku seemed to calm down and the less he was sparking. Okay, keep the guy talking then… good to know…

"So… um… see any good movies lately?" Mineta asked as they moved to towel off. Izuku shrugged.

"I don't really watch that much T.V. anymore." Izuku said. "I spend more time training anyways…"

"I can see… You're pretty jacked my man." Mineta said. "What's your secret?"

Izuku thought about it as he slipped on his school pants. "Move a lot of really heavy stuff, train to fight and… I guess also doing a hundred pushups, sit ups, squats, and run ten kilometers every day."

Mineta sweat dropped. "I mean, did you do any special training or-?"

"Not really?" Izuku said sounding unsure. "I just kinda… you know… did something every day. I got a really intricate diet and exercise plan from a friend, but I ended up overworking myself trying to get into shape faster. I ended up still doing that last part of my work out in secret. I just felt like I had to do something, but I didn't really want anyone to know, you know?"

Mineta nodded, looking down at his skinny form. Maybe he could stand to do a bit more exercise…

"Oh hey, Mineta?" Izuku asked looking over him to the wall next to the lockers.

"Sup?" Mineta said.

"There's a hole in the wall…" Izuku whispered, not wanting to see what some of the other guys would do if they found out.

"Gotcha fam." Mineta said and plugged the hole with a ball from his head.

It was tempting to peek in there and leave it open, but Mineta had truly grown in the last few months, and even though he had some slip ups, he was doing his best.

Besides, what kind of creep messes with someone's privacy?

* * *

Jiro was panicking a bit as she couldn't remove her ear jack from the hole. It was caught on something!

She had hear something going on in the boy's room and found a peeping hole from the boy's locker room. Assuming the worst, she had put her earphone jack into the hole to stop anyone from peeking and then listened to what they were saying on the other side.

There was some tom-foolery going on and some gruff barking from Bakugo when suddenly everything she heard some of the boy's talking. It was that guy everyone was talking about being a thug, and the creepy purple gremlin, so Jiro had gone in for a listen and found them talking about the girls in her class (suspiciously), but it was tamer than she expected.

But then something happened, and she couldn't pull her earphone jack out of the wall and now she was getting weird looks from the other girls. What if they thought she was a pervert or something?!

"Um… Miss Jiro?" Momo said… in a very revealing set of dress. Jiro felt heat rise up to her face. Jealousy and a good bit of worry about her own curves, or lack thereof, in general filled Jiro's mind until Momo asked again. "Are you stuck?"

The last bit caught her attention. "Um… yeah…"

"Don't worry, I figure out a way to help." Momo said seriously. Like, way too seriously…

Jiro would expect that kind of seriousness if she had gotten her arm cut off or something… not for just being stuck. But Momo went ahead and got a little more dressed and headed out to look for a teacher.

Jiro sighed and waited in place as Momo went to get help. She swore that they would become good friends for this. Especially if Momo dealt with this discreetly.

This was one heck of a first day of school…


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: One step forward**

* * *

Izuku had a problem.

His body was sparking like crazy and he felt One for All run amok with his muscle control. There was a bit of an incident when he had tried to turn the nob of a shower and it had broken off in his hand. Also, his joints felt like they were on fire.

While he felt ridiculously strong, Izuku also felt ridiculously broken. It was like every step threatened to crack his nearly indestructible bones and his Quirk was barely keeping up with it. It was taking all of his strength to try and halt this ridiculous power and control it.

"Bro, you need to go see the nurse." Mineta said worriedly. It was beginning to hurt to breath. "Midoriya?"

"I'm fine." Izuku said weakly. He didn't feel fine. He felt sore all over and it wasn't from the amount of effort he had put in to complete Aizawa's test. It felt worse than a panic attack. (And being the nervous wreck he normally was, Izuku was very familiar with those.) Like all his muscles were tense for too long.

Izuku didn't want to admit it, but it kind of his fault. One for All was wonderful, and terrifying. Izuku now knew why All-Might had him do soft tissue training, as well as had him study martial arts. Precision, control, and endurance… that was what he had been supposed to figure out.

He was the one who messed up and set back his training. He was the one that hadn't prepared correctly and now he was paying for it. Izuku felt worthless and was borderline freaking out thinking he had broken All-Might's Quirk. The one he was supposed to be storing power into…

Izuku hadn't really understood what All-Might had been saying all that long ago. He had a Quirk and he had been training to be able to hold All-Might's power within him, but he hadn't exactly been planning to _use_ it.

Izuku felt like he should be cultivating One for All so someone else could have even more power later, or even so he could give it back to All-Might if that were possible. Instead he had been using that power, not storing it, and now he just felt like trash. The first time with the giant robot had been a kind of spur of the moment thing, and he was sure All-Might would understand, but if he could, he'd like to avoid it in the future.

His goal had been to hang on to One for All and then use the fringe benefits like increased speed and strength like All-Might did but to actually cultivate the power and only use it to save lives… Now, Izuku was worried about not holding in that power and not actually adding anything to it for the next guy to use! And he wouldn't… stop… sparking!

As Mineta and Koda looked at him like he was crazy, Izuku felt even more useless as he was making others worry and-

"Bro, if you're not feeling okay, you're not feeling okay." Mineta said bluntly. "You can't save anyone if you are injured."

Koda nodded vigorously in agreement.

Izuku laughed, thinking of All-Might and how anorexic he looked in his 'Small-Might' form. If he was able to do Hero work even when that badly injured… What he was going through was nothing… he just needed to make sure all that power was contained… His sparks just increased in intensity as he desperately tried to hold back All-Might's power.

"I'm fine, really." Izuku said gritting his teeth. "I'm just getting used to my new Quirk."

"Oh, well that's okay- wait, new!?" Mineta asked freaking out a little bit. Koda's eyes went wide.

"I don't really know a lot about it, but I think it's Stockpiling." Izuku said with a shrug. He winced. Okay, that hurt… Also it felt bad lying but he had promised All-Might not to tell anyone One for All's origin... "That would explain why I wasn't able to use it at all for a few years."

"Stockpiling?" Mineta asked. Izuku remembered when he had asked the same question. Izuku nodded.

"I think it stores power and then stacks it onto my own strength." Izuku said. "But that's just a theory…"

"A Quirk Theory!" Mineta said with little finger guns. Izuku stared at him blankly. "What? You don't watch-? Okay, sorry… It thought you'd be into that show, what with all the Quirk analysis you do…"

"Yeah, but um… sometimes there a fair bit of conjecture, like it's just someone's interpretation, not actual stated facts. Then sometimes they butcher the math or purposefully only choose feats or ideas that fit the theme of the video, and then there's all the click-bait…" Izuku said. Mineta just realized he had introduced himself as basically uncultured swine to a man of culture. "I mean, it's good that it gets people interested…"

'A nerd through and through…' Mineta thought. 'Man, now I just have to make him seem like a badass…'

The guy was sparking like crazy still and it was obviously hurting him… Suddenly, a very dumb idea came to Mineta's mind seeing the boy spark like that.

"You wanna hang out later?" Mineta asked. Maybe DBZ would be a good idea to get him started on- wait, why was the boy making that face? Why the hell was he crying?!

Not for the first time today, Mineta wasn't sure exactly what he got into.

* * *

"You want to hang out!?" Izuku asked in shock.

Mineta had popped the question like it was no big deal out in front of the school and Izuku didn't even know what to say! Nobody had ever wanted to hang out with him before! Even with Kacchan, he was usually 'allowed' to let the explosive come over and play, but that was usually only because Izuku had gotten an All-Might game for his birthday.

This was the first time anyone said that to him since he was five! He was overwhelmed with emotion. Seriously, tears began to fall freely from his face. Someone wanted to hang out with him! Oh man! He had to text his mom!

"Bro…" Mineta said staring at Izuku's tearful face. "Okay, I just asked if we could exchange numbers and hang out sometime…"

Izuku, the horribly socially retarded sweetheart that he was, barely stopped himself from picking up the smaller purple haired boy in a back breaking hug. Barely.

"Can we hang out today since classes went out early?!" Izuku asked excitedly wiping his tears and treating the bewildered boy a million watt smile.

Mineta tried slowly backing away when Izuku was (thankfully) distracted seeing Koda looking nervous.

"Hey Koda! I was thinking about hanging out with you and Mineta here!" Izuku said excitedly before pausing. "Oh! I should probably ask if Mineta wants to go, I mean if he has plans-"

Mineta mentally steeled himself, putting on a big forced smile. "Yeah! I don't really have any plans! You wanna come hang with us?"

Koda looked up in surprise then down in utter shock, and like Izuku, he began to cry and then hurriedly texted someone on his phone. When he seemed to get a response he quickly scribbled down in a pink unicorn notebook: 'My mom says I can go as long as I am back before eight!'

Izuku was just about to ask his mother as well when he noticed a text on his phone. From All-Might.

Opening up the text he quickly read and felt terrible for having to lie to his new friends, not only that, but Koda seemed excited to hang out with them all. Sighing, Izuku prepared an excuse. All-Might had wanted to talk to him right after school to go over how he was using One for All.

"Can't go?" Mineta asked. "I understand. Parents are kinda strict like that…"

Seeing Izuku and Koda's dejected faces, Mineta quickly came up with a plan. "Hey! How 'bout since it's a school night, we do a video conference and study together?"

Izuku and Koda blinked. "Video conference?"

"Yeah! Just lemme get your emails and I could set you two up tonight!" Mineta said happily. Koda seemed to consider it while Izuku beamed.

"That sounds great!" Izuku said excitedly. "Koda! Most online video conference rooms have a spot to send messages! That means you can just text us without worry!"

Koda began to get a little nervous but he eventually agreed. Mineta had both boys emails soon enough, and gave them a thumbs up with a smile. He was going to find out what made both of them tick and then… he would know exactly how to make them famous or infamous.

"Just leave it to me guys!" Mineta said.

* * *

Izuku rushed to get home even though he texted his mother saying he would be out for a run. She was hesitant, but let him be about not coming home immediately. Panting, Izuku ran. He had to make it to the Naboo Humanitarian suite where All-Might would be ready to give him important pointers for One for All!

Reaching the strange eatery Izuku noticed that he was sparking again and immediately tried to hide it. Most of the time, police officers didn't condone Quirk use in public, but if you weren't hurting anyone they'd usually let you off with a warning.

There were still sticklers for the rules sometimes that might just write you up a ticket with a hefty fine if you were caught using your Quirk in public. Strangely enough, though law enforcement offices claim that they do not have a quota of tickets to fill, tickets are most often given at the end of the month for one reason or another…

Izuku took a deep breath and did his best to calm the heck down. One for All felt like liquid lightning in muscle fibers and his own Quirk Marrow felt like warmth. It was just a theory, but Izuku felt like his two Quirks were trying to merge with one another. But it was just a theory to explain his random muscle spasms and the electricity arcing in his body.

His healing factor was keeping up with it, but Izuku was in some real pain earlier. It felt like the panic attacks he used to get when he was younger; where all his muscles clenched up and he felt really sore and tired afterwards. Kinda like that…

Now, he was mostly used to that sort of pain, and was doing his best to calm down before he made use of his dreadful habit of cracking his back along with every other joint. The tension building up, Izuku sighed and prepared himself. After a series of disturbing cracks along his back and in his joints, the tension was relieved with a 'it hurts so good' type of feeling. Slowly, his breathing slowed, and his body and mind seemed to relax.

He looked at the Humanitarian center and readied himself for both advice and service!

Once he went inside and the strange smell of fresh fabric and a warm 'homey' smell filled his nose, he saw All-Might in his 'Small-Might' form waiting for him.

"Midoriya, my boy!" All-Might waved. "There's a lot we need to discuss."

* * *

The superpowered duo sat down and began working on a quilt together. They were here under the pretense that they were building a quilt for Izuku's mother for Mother's Day. The older woman who supervised was touched by the gesture and remarked how she wished her children would be thoughtful enough to do something like that and let them be after a while.

Izuku was picking out the pattern, trying to find out what kind of print his mom would like. She seemed to like pink, but she might want something different… Maybe a white quilt with pink trim? No, that'd be too hard to wash… A spring theme maybe? But his mom's birthday was in summer so…

"I wanted to talk to you about the use of your Quirk during that test Aizawa set up." All-Might said quietly, picking out some yellow fabric. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea… "I noticed that you were struggling to regulate it."

Izuku frowned. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to it… I won't waste any more energy…"

"Waste? Wait, what are you talking about?" All-Might asked.

"Well, I've been wasting excess energy when using One-for-All and…" Izuku said trailing off.

"Midoriya my boy, how do you think that Quirk is supposed to be used?" All-Might asked. Izuku ducked, embarrassed. "You thought you were just supposed to hang onto it and build up its strength, huh?"

Izuku's eyes widened confirming All-Might's suspicion.

"It's not a bad mindset to have, but the whole reason I decided to give you my power was because you tend to rush into things without a thought to save someone." All-Might said softly. "It'd kinda go against the whole meaning of the Quirk to never use it… Hmm… I guess I didn't explain it too well… Look, 'Stockpiling' isn't exactly the correct name for the Quirk anyways, even if that's the type of Quirk it is…"

"Wait, it isn't really Stockpiling? Then what is it?" Izuku asked confused. All-Might coughed into a handkerchief filling it with thick globs of congealed blood. Izuku looked worried but All-Might just held up a hand.

"Ugh… I thought about it a lot, and I think the best way to describe the Quirk is by understanding a stock investment." All-Might explained wiping the blood from his mouth. "If it were just 'Stockpiling', you'd only have what you or the previous users put into it. But in the case of One-for-All, it's more like paying a portion of 'stock' in a company and then it building gradually as the years go by. The more power or stock you put in, the more you get out of it. And just like a normal stock, you can inherit stock from the previous stockholder.

"Remember, each person improves upon the Quirk when it passes on, so… all of the people who have wielded that mighty power before… all their hopes, all of their dreams, their strength, their blood, sweat, and tears… All of that… is now yours to inherit.

"When you pass on the Quirk, you will only have left what you put into it. I've had the Quirk the longest, so I have a good bit of 'stock' saved up. But now, without the rest of the 'stock shares' I only have a limited amount of time per day that I can keep using it without totally running out. So, basically, don't worry about the amount of energy you are consuming. Just continue to grow, continue to use that power to fulfil the past users dreams, but… even if you decide not to do that, it's yours to decide what to do with it…" All-Might finished, picking out some yellow and blue squares.

Izuku suddenly felt the weight of responsibility that One for All carried with it. All those hopes, all those dreams… they were now his to fulfill… How was he supposed to do that? What dream should he pursue that would keep those dreams alive? What of All-Might's dream? He didn't know what he could possibly do to-

"You really need to work on that muttering problem…" All-Might said flatly before looking down, and looking like the man had the weight of the whole world on his emancipated shoulders. "I know what I'm asking you isn't fair, but… My dream is to continue being the Symbol of Peace for as long as I can, and I want you to finally take that mantle off my shoulders when you are ready. You may have the power, the mind, and the heart, but there is still a lot more I need to teach you. I don't expect you to become me- hell, I don't even expect you to become super famous or the Number-One Hero or anything like that… I just…"

All-Might sighed and put down the fabric.

"I want you to promise me something." All-Might said. "No matter how famous, or infamous… No matter how powerful or unstoppable you become… I want you to never change from what you truly are, a Good Man. I didn't give you my power because you were a perfect candidate, or even a perfect vessel, I chose you because you were the one that I knew would always do his absolute best and never stop trying to do the right thing. If you can keep doing that for me, then I don't have any doubt in my mind you are a worthy successor… Do you understand me Young Midoriya?"

Izuku nodded quietly looking down again. "I won't let you down All-Might… I promise… and, thank you… for believing in me."

All-Might clapped the boy on the shoulder. "No my boy, thank you for giving me hope. I wanna see you giving it your all from now on. No more holding back! Speaking of which! Let's make your mother the best quilt that we can make! Between the two of us it shouldn't be too hard right!?"

Izuku nodded. He hadn't thought about it, but if he truly had been holding back, he would be disrespecting those who had come before him. He made himself a promise then. He was going to make All-Might's, no- the previous holder's dreams come true. He would hold onto their hopes and dreams for as long as he lived.

"So, what do you think? Do you think Polka dots are too cheesy?" Izuku asked. All-Might shrugged.

"She's your mother, don't you know what her favorite color or pattern is?" All-Might asked.

Izuku and All-Might stared at each other for a minute before returning to the colored squares.

"Maybe a pastel pink followed by a hot pink polka-dot on a mostly white background…" Izuku suggested. Even if it were really light if it got stained it'd wash out… All-Might nodded and both tried to find an appropriate color for the next row.

"Young Midoriya?" All-Might asked. Izuku looked up.

"Yeah?" Izuku said. All-Might was smiling. Not a forced smile like the one that he wore every day, but a genuine smile, and as typical of those kind of smiles, it was filled with happiness, a little sadness, and enough tiredness to last several lifetimes.

"Thank you. I know you will do me proud." All-Might said.

Izuku couldn't help it. He began to tear up, and he tried desperately to wipe his eyes before the waterworks really started.

"I promise All-Might, no matter what happens, I'll never stop trying to be good man!" Izuku swore. "I'll make you proud, and become the best Hero in the world!"

All-Might smiled again. In many ways, the boy already was.


End file.
